Finding Airfoil Data For Amateur Projects? 71
An anonymous reader asks: "I am an aerospace engineering student who is engaged in an amateur project. A major hurdle I am having is finding modern airfoil data which can be used for a non-profit project. As most aerospace engineers know, just about all modern airfoil data are guarded industry secrets, so building an amateur project that requires precise airfoil data is difficult, because of the lack of available modern information. There is plenty of dated airfoil data from the 1960s or earlier, but my project requires access to modern data. Note that I do not have access to a wind tunnel to procure this data on my own. Where would one find free modern airfoil data for use in an amateur project?"
Get a summer job with a company which has it? ;-) (Score:1, Insightful)
Paul B.
Long shot (Score:2)
That was a tongue-in-cheek comment! ;-) (Score:2)
Paul B.
Uhh? (Score:2, Funny)
Re:Uhh? (Score:4, Funny)
Re:Uhh? (Score:2, Informative)
XFoil (Score:5, Informative)
I've used these before in some simple hobby projects (that never actually got finished)
Re:XFoil warning. heed this warning of face rtbl (Score:4, Funny)
Re:XFoil (Score:2)
Re:XFoil (Score:2)
Computational Fluid Dynamics (Score:2)
Disclamer: I am a former CFD developer turned turbine airfoil designer at a major jet engine company, so I tend to be a bigger fan of CFD than most people...
That said, we depend on CFD very heavily, we often skip rigs, and go straight to t
Ask the experts (Score:5, Informative)
Coordinate Data and other stuff. (Score:5, Informative)
Sailplanes (Score:5, Informative)
If L/D is all you need, it should be easy, though there are some other numbers in the book that are probably useful. Good luck! Also, it never hurts to ask...Have you tried the military? Sometimes they give up random tidbits of data without a FOIA request.
small idea (Score:2)
Classic is the best (Score:5, Informative)
I'm not sure why modern data would be a must for any non trans/supersonic vehicle (and some supersonic aircraft still use the classic NACA 4-digit airfoils).
Re:Classic is the best (Score:2)
Seconded. The request for "precision data" makes me wonder, too. The NACA figures are plenty precise and comprehensive...exhaustively, headache-inducingly so. Since the submitter hasn't told us anything about his project, aside from the fact that it seems to involve aerodynamics, we're all whistling in the dark, anyway.
So, anonymous reader: What flight regime? What neighborhood are we talking about for aspect ratio?
Re:Classic is the best (Score:1)
Re:Classic is the best (Score:2)
Xfoil is pretty decent, too, but i never found it significantly more convenient than
Previous Discussion on this? (Score:3, Informative)
How important? (Score:3, Interesting)
ruler, inclinometer (Score:1)
Re:ruler, inclinometer (Score:3, Insightful)
Airfoil follows fairly well-known laws of aerodynamics; I would wager that any modern use of airfoil data is an order of magnitude (time) more extensive in its demand for details...
What he wants is data - modern data - which means probably *lots* of data for modelling, analysis, on a very accurate scale.
Re: (Score:2)
Totally agree (Score:4, Informative)
I have found several gpl/shareware programs that do help design airfoils and predict their usability, but on a small scale for r/c. And the properties obviously change for real-world aircraft.
here are some links that may help though:
http://www.pagendarm.de/trapp/programming/java/
http://raphael.mit.edu/xfoil/
http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/Harold
http://www.compufoil.com
http://www.profili2.com
http://www.ozemail.com.au/~malhardy/
These are applications that I have used with mixed success. And remember - most of these are for model aircraft so YMMV.
Also just google, there are lots of others out there who have run into the same situation and started the own projects to make data available.
He's using the American spelling (Score:5, Funny)
Turns out he's just asking about Aerofoils but it's one of those words that the Americans spell wrong, like 'color' and 'potatoe'.
I suggest he tries all the places he already looked, but use the spelling the rest of the world uses.
Re:He's using the American spelling (Score:1)
Do they write tomatoe as well?
Re:He's using the American spelling (Score:3, Funny)
Re:He's using the American spelling (Score:1, Offtopic)
Re:He's using the American spelling (Score:1, Offtopic)
Re:He's using the American spelling (Score:1, Offtopic)
Re:He's using the American spelling (Score:4, Interesting)
Re:He's using the American spelling (Score:2)
Assuming you're not trolling, the correct spelling, whether British or American, is 'potato.' The only reason the 'potatoe' spelling is in the common vernacular is because of that idiot U.S. vice president, Dan Quayle, who couldn't spell a word that an 8 year-old spelling bee contestant had no trouble with.
Re:He's using the American spelling (Score:1)
Blimey! Your insects are clever! Are they special top-secret super bees? Do they kill commies?
Re:He's using the American spelling (Score:2)
Why the hell is it called a spelling bee anyway? Anyone know?
Re:He's using the American spelling (Score:1)
I've never done it and I'm an engineer. (bad spelling joke
Re:He's using the American spelling (Score:2)
Dan Quayle. [capitalcentury.com]
Re:He's using the American spelling (Score:1)
Dan Quale was the only fool that publically spelled potato with an 'e' and phonetically, can you hear the 'u' in color and 'c' in defense? Therefore, it is useless to use the 'u' and 'c' in said words. But then again, if we spelled everyth
An intriguing question, to be sure (Score:2, Insightful)
It is very interesting that you call yourself an Aero Eng student, but haven't mentioned anything about the NACA series of aerofoils (or maybe that is what you are calling 1960s or earlier). Why modern aerofoil data is required, as opposed to these foils is not known. If you are on the cutting edge of design, then you should have ready access to a wind tunnel for testing. If you don't, then you should be able to convince your instructors to let you carry out a project to derive appropriate NACA data for
Amateur Aerodynamics? (Score:2)
http://www.topgear.com/content/fun_stuff/carbag
TetrUSS (Score:2)
Not sure if it is what you are looking for, but works both on PC and Mac OS X
http://aaac.larc.nasa.gov/tsab/tetruss/mac/
Mark Drela (Score:3, Insightful)
http://raphael.mit.edu/DRELA.bio.html
http://w
1960's airfoil data aint to shabby (Score:2)
It's too bad knowledge has been replaced with secrets. Think what we could do if everyone shared the knowledge. Instead we obsess about hiding our little sliver of information from the rest of the world and charging as much as anyone will pay to have a peek at it (after they sign a NDA of course
First ... (Score:1, Funny)
You get yourself 120 laser pointers...
Re:First ... (Score:1)
I got it.
Some suggestions (Score:1)