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Following observations can be made from airflow over an aerofoil There is a slight upflow before reaching the aerofoil There is a downflow after passing the aerofoil The air does not strike the aerofoil exactly on the nose, but actually divides it at a point just behind it on the underside The streamlines are closer together above the aerofoil where the pressure is decreased.
= 4
Centre of pressure
If all the distributed forces due to pressure were replaced by a single resultant force, then the position on the chord at which this resultant force acts is called the centre of pressure. This is an important consideration for the wing. The top surface of the wing must be held down on to the ribs, while the bottom skin will simply be pressed up to the ribs. Thus, the forces to be borne by fasteners can be evaluated.
C D .q.Sc
Here,
CL , CD and CM are coefficients of lift, drag and pitching moment respectively. (These depend on the shape of the aerofoil) is the density of air S is the area of the aerofoil projected on the plane of the chord c is the chord length of the aerofoil V is the air speed
Aerofoil characteristics
The aerofoil characteristics therefore depend on: The lift coefficient The drag coefficient The ratio of lift to drag, and The position of the centre of pressure or the pitching moment coefficient. The aerofoil characteristics are analysed with the use of The lift curve The drag curve The lift/drag ratio curve, and Centre of pressure and moment coefficient curve
Lift curve
Figure shows typical variation of lift coefficient with angle of attack for a particular aerofoil When the angle of attack is zero, there is a definite lift coefficient and hence a definite lift. Between 0 and 12 the graph is practically a straight line indicating that the lift increases steadily with increase in angle of attack Above 12, although the lift still increases for a few degrees, the curve starts to peak. At about 15 the lift coefficient reaches a maximum and then drops. The angle at which CL peaks is called the stalling angle.
Ordinary angles of flight
Stalling of aerofoil
For this particular aerofoil, as long as the angle of attack is less than 15, the air is defelected by the aerofoil and flow is steady Suddenly, when the angle of attack reaches the critical value of 15, there is complete change in the nature of flow. The airflow breaks away or separates from the top surface forming vortices thus destroying the low pressure distribution. This causes severe loss of thrust. Sudden loss of thrust due to high angle of attack is called stalling of aerofoil
Drag curve
Figure shows typical variation of drag coefficient with angle of attack The drag is minimum at zero or slight negative angle of attack and increases on both sides of this angle Initially, the increase in drag coefficient is not rapid with angle of attack. Later, the increase becomes more and more rapid Especially after the stalling angle when the air separates, the increase in drag coefficient is very high meaning very high thrust to fly
Lift/Drag curve
For optimum performance, an aerofoil should be operated at maximum lift and minimum drag. The lift curve showed that the maximum lift occurs at 15 and the drag curve showed that minimum drag occurs at 0 angle of attack. But both of them are at the extreme ends of the range of possible angles. Therefore, it is better to consider the best lift/drag ratio, which is the same as best ratio of CL/CD
Ordinary angles of flight
We notice that the best CL/CD ratio occurs at an angle of attack of 3 or 4 which is the best operating point for this aerofoil