E.

Shapiro, Cranfield University, SoE/FMaCS

CFD for Aerospace Flows Lab

Panel method calculations for NACA 4412 wing section

Introduction
In this lab we will investigate the performance of NACA 4412 wing section. NACA 4412 airfoil
was widely used in early days of aviation and has been studied extensively experimentally in
NACA reports ( e.g. 460, 563, 646, 824) .
The airfoil was used as recently as 1996 on BAe ATP airliner.

Fig 1. BAe ATP airliner. Wing root: NACA 23018; tip: NACA 4412

Cruise parameters for the airliner are as follows:

• Wing span: 30.63 m

• Wing area: 78.30 m2
• SMC: 2.6m
• Cruise speed: 496 km/h (137 m/s)
• Cruise: Mach ~0.4, Cruise Reynolds(based on smc): ~24m

Most of the experiments were done at a lower speed and lower Reynolds number. Our key
comparison data is from the NACA TR563 report conducted at NACA variable density
windtunnel. The windtunnel data approximately corresponds to the following setup:
• Reynolds ~3m
• Pressure (tank) ~20.8 atm
• Density (tank) ~26 kg/m3
• Uinf ~21 m/s
• Typical airfoil chord ~ 12.7cm
• Mach ~0.06

We will use the panel method XFOIL code developed at MIT by Mark Drela
(http://web.mit.edu/drela/Public/web/xfoil/) and compare our results with the experimental
data for Cp and Cl polar.

Note:

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E. Shapiro, Cranfield University, SoE/FMaCS

• X-foil manual and NACA reports are available on Blackboard

• Experimental data for Cp and lift polar is available on Blackboard in Excel format and
plain text for Tecplot.
• In NACA reports, the angle of attack corresponds to uncorrected angle in the
windtunnel. Table II of report TR-563 gives the correlation between corrected angle
and nominal angle.

Panel code calculation

Open the terminal and start XFOIL by typing “xfoil”. XFOIL is a text driven code. In each level
of the menu “? <enter>” lists possible options and “<enter>” brings you up one level if you
are in a sub-menu.

Initialise Xfoil/load naca airfoil

• Start xfoil.
• You are in the main menu. Select 4412 naca airfoil geometry: “naca 4412 <enter>”
• Display the airfoil by going into the menu for geometry design: “gdes <enter>”

Set the operating parameters

• Enter the operations menu: “oper <enter>”
• Set angle and solve: “a 0 <enter>”
• Cp will be displayed. Note Cl,Cd (0.508,-0.00109)

Inviscid Simulations
Effect of the number of panels for fixed angle of attack. Say 4 degrees
nominal (2.9 corrected)
• Set the angle of attack to 2.9 degrees in the “oper” menu. Note: default number of
panels - 160
• Note Cl, Cd (0.8592,-0.00111)
• Store the cp to a file “cpwr <enter>”
• Return to main menu
• Go to the panelling menu: “ppar <enter>”
• Change the number of panels to 200, and compute the case. Note Cl, Cd (0.8595,
-0.00105)
• Store Cp and repeat the computations for the number of panels 250 and 300.
• Is there convergence with respect to number of panels in terms of Cp distribution and
lift?
• How does the Cp distribution compare with the experiment?
• Note experimental Cl at this angle of attack: ~0.677

Compute inviscid lift polar (-20 - + 30 degrees, 0.1 degrees increment),

• Change the number of panels back to 200
• in “oper” menu specify Mach number: “m 0.06”
• Start accumulating the polar file: “pacc <enter>” and give the name of the polar file.

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E. Shapiro, Cranfield University, SoE/FMaCS

No dump file required.

• Compute polar: “aseq <enter>”
• Turn polar accumulation off: “pacc <enter>”
• Compare the polar with the experimental data from Blackboard

Viscous Simulations
Compute viscous Cp at 2.9 degrees
• Leave the number of panels at 200
• Change the number of iterations in the “oper” menu to 500: “iter 500”
• In “oper” menu specify Mach number: “m 0.06”
• In “oper” menu specify Reynolds number: “visc r” (3,000,000)
• Compute the case: “a 2.9”
• Note the value of Cl (0.8039,0.005), is there an improvement in Cl prediction?
• Store the Cp distribution to a file: “cpwr”
• Set the trip for the boundary layer at 0.1. on both sides: “vpar <enter>”; “xtr”
• Compute the case, compare Cp with experimental data, inviscid case and case
without trip. (Cl=0.7806) Is there an improvement in Cl?

Compute viscous lift polar (-20 - + 30 degrees, 0.1 degrees increment),

• Leave the number of panels at 200.
• Leave trip at 0.1
• Start accumulating the polar file: “pacc <enter>” and give the name of the polar file.
No dump file needed.
• Compute polar: “aseq <enter>”
• Compare the polar with the experiment and inviscid polar. Is there an improvement?.

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