Airfoil camber/reflex info and use

[mdennis]

Has anybody ever seen a chart or list showing the airfoil and how well it takes camber or reflex and how much is optimal?

I hear people say something like, - That plane has a MH-32 airfoil... It really handles camber well, but shouldn't be reflexed. (This is an example, but not necessarily a fact) Where do you find this information?

Has anybody seen a publication explaining when, how and how much camber or reflex to use? Surely Dr. Drela has published something on this.

[Ollie]

See:
http://www.aerodesign.de/english/profile/profile_s.htm
http://www.mh-aerotools.de/airfoils/index.htm
http://www.mh-aerotools.de/airfoils/javafoil.htm
"As said above, JavaFoil is a relatively simple program, with some limitations. As with all engineering computer codes, it is up to the user to judge and to decide how far he wants to trust a program. Because JavaFoil does not model laminar separation bubbles and flow separation, the results will be incorrect if either of these occur."
For X-foil included in profile2:
http://www.profili2.com/eng/default.htm
Dr. Drela's program, X-foil, does model laminar separation bubbles and flow separation!
Study:
http://www.charlesriverrc.org/articles/drela-airfoilshop/markdrela-ag-ht-airfoils.htm

[Tony D.]

Profili (which uses XFoil for computation) has a utility whereby you can set different flap deflections and generate Polars at different Alpha/Re which will give you the answers you are looking for.

Profili is an excellent tool and is very inexpensive.


http://www.profili2.com/eng/default.htm



T.D.

[Fly2High]

Being a newbe to the mathematics of fight and polars, what exactly would I be looking for to indicate that a given airfoil would benefit from a deflection of 'x' degrees. Without going to my books, I forget what determines where on the polars one can find the best lift to drag, etc.

For example, if I am looking for the best reflex degrees what am I comparing? at what angle of attack? Do I look to see what is the least drag created at zero degress or at the tangent as drawn from the origin? Obviously I will need to make a set of polars spanning a range of flap deflections. Same questions for camber setting?

When is too much camber no good? (Just thought of a million wise crack answers! Please have restraint)

I haven't read my text in some time so bear with me a bit.

Thanks for the help!

Frank