The design and testing of Natural Laminar Flow (NLF) airfoils is examined. The NLF airfoil was designed for low speed, having a low profile drag at high chord Reynolds numbers. The success of the low speed NLF airfoil sparked interest in a high speed NLF airfoil applied to a single engine business jet with an unswept wing. Work was also conducted on the two dimensional flap design. The airfoil was decambered by removing the aft loading, however, high design Mach numbers are possible by increasing the aft loading and reducing the camber overall on the airfoil. This approach would also allow for flatter acceleration regions which are more stabilizing for cross flow disturbances. Sweep could then be used to increase the design Mach number to a higher value also. There would be some degradation of high lift by decambering the airfoil overall, and this aspect would have to be considered in a final design.
Design of the Low-Speed NLF (Natural Laminar Flow)(1)-0414F and the High-Speed HSNLF(1)-0213 Airfoils with High-Lift Systems
1987
35 pages
Report
No indication
English
Aerodynamics , Aircraft , Fluid Mechanics , Airfoil profiles , Boundary layer stability , Drag reduction , Laminar flow airfoils , Sweep effect , Two dimensional flow , Aircraft design , Cross flow , Laminar flow , Landing speed , Low speed , Pressure distribution , Tollmien-schlichting waves , Wind tunnel tests