Budget_man
Jun 05, 2009, 07:43 AM
Hello all! Found this section of the forums a while ago and thought it would be a great help for my school project if I needed it, and now well...I need help! :rolleyes:
Basically my project is investigating different wing types, ie researching many different types to see what they are designed for, and building and testing them to see which is best for what application. An important point in my investigation also is that this is all to do with MODEL aircraft. Thats it in a very simple way, but this is a whole year investigation which has to be very academic and thoroughly documented. Right now I've hit a trouble spot; I've realized that there are far too many wing types for me to possibly build and test, so (this is where you guys come in!) I need to know what are the most widely used airfoils and what they are used for.
Now I've already discovered that the system of naming all airfoil sections under generic terms such as "under cambered" and "flat bottom" must be abandoned because there are just so many under each category and it does nothing to explain them properly. I've already written a bit about the KF airfoil sections, Clark Y, and symmetrical profiles but I need more! So any help with finding airfoil profiles suitable for documenting and testing would be greatly greatly appreciated.
Also once I've documented a decent number of profiles I am going to build a wind tunnel to do some smoke testing on each before I fly them, make a hypothesis on what they will do in the air and see if the flight data fits with my hypothesis.
I've already borrowed an invaluable book to help me and it has thousands of airfoil profiles in it, but theres so many! and it only explains a few. Of course I will recognize ALL sources and give proper credit to everyone who helps me.
If you've read through all that and still fell like helping, please post info here! :o Also if you need any more description from me just ask away.
*EDIT* Oh yes I forgot to say all this is for a small indoor plane so that weather is not a problem.
Basically my project is investigating different wing types, ie researching many different types to see what they are designed for, and building and testing them to see which is best for what application. An important point in my investigation also is that this is all to do with MODEL aircraft. Thats it in a very simple way, but this is a whole year investigation which has to be very academic and thoroughly documented. Right now I've hit a trouble spot; I've realized that there are far too many wing types for me to possibly build and test, so (this is where you guys come in!) I need to know what are the most widely used airfoils and what they are used for.
Now I've already discovered that the system of naming all airfoil sections under generic terms such as "under cambered" and "flat bottom" must be abandoned because there are just so many under each category and it does nothing to explain them properly. I've already written a bit about the KF airfoil sections, Clark Y, and symmetrical profiles but I need more! So any help with finding airfoil profiles suitable for documenting and testing would be greatly greatly appreciated.
Also once I've documented a decent number of profiles I am going to build a wind tunnel to do some smoke testing on each before I fly them, make a hypothesis on what they will do in the air and see if the flight data fits with my hypothesis.
I've already borrowed an invaluable book to help me and it has thousands of airfoil profiles in it, but theres so many! and it only explains a few. Of course I will recognize ALL sources and give proper credit to everyone who helps me.
If you've read through all that and still fell like helping, please post info here! :o Also if you need any more description from me just ask away.
*EDIT* Oh yes I forgot to say all this is for a small indoor plane so that weather is not a problem.