What is the lift curve slope of an airfoil?

The lift curve slope is a measure of how rapidly the wing generates lift with change in AOA. As stated in Section 8.1. 4, the theoretical maximum is 2π, although real airfoils deviate from it. The lift curve slope of a three-dimensional wing is always less than that of the airfoils it features (see Section 9.5.

How does the lift curve change when applying camber to an airfoil?

The effect of increasing the airfoil camber causes a greater differential change in momentum of the flow around the airfoil, which causes differences in the pressure difference, thus increasing lift. However, the trade-off is that an increase in the camber of the flat plate also increases drag (form drag).

How does thickness of airfoil affect lift?

Increasing the thickness will increase the lift. Increasing the area will increase the lift. A symmetric airfoil, or even a flat plate at angle of attack, will generate lift. Lift appears to be a very strong function of the airfoil camber.

What is the lift slope of a NACA 4 airfoil?

It is common to measure airfoil lift slopes near the 0.1097 deg () for the NACA 4 and 5 series airfoils with thickness ratios below 10%. However, once you go above this thickness, the measured lift slope begins approaching 0.1 deg or 5.73 rad for smooth airfoils with thickness ratios near the upper limit of 24%.

What is the slope of a thin airfoil?

The thin airfoil theory will predict a finite wing lift slope of . It is common to measure airfoil lift slopes near the 0.1097 deg ) for the NACA 4 and 5 series airfoils with thickness ratios below 10%. However, once you go above this thickness, the measured lift slope begins approaching 0.1 deg

How are airfoils identified in NACA 16-212?

The 1-Series airfoils are identified by five digits, as exemplified by the NACA 16-212. The first digit, 1, indicates the series (this series was designed for airfoils with regions of barely supersonic flow). The 6 specifies the location of minimum pressure in tenths of chord, i.e. 60% back from the leading edge in this case.

How much lift does a thin airfoil have?

In general, most airfoils only approximately display the 2 π lift slope as predicted by thin airfoil theory.