Chapter V Part III Forces on the Airfoil Section at Point P on the Lifting Line In the previous handout we looked

at a general point P, located at (0,y0,0) on the lifting line. Using Biot- avart law, we stated that the velocity at this point is given !y"
w= & %
y =+b $ #

y =b $ #

(y

d 0 y)

(&)

In this handout, we look at the loads on the airfoil section due to this downwash, and the freestrea' velocity (.

(elocity that the airfoil sees

)riginal *reestrea' (

If we look at the figure a!ove, the original flow was along the +- a+is, and the angle !etween the original flow direction and the airfoil chord line is (y0). ,otice that the angle of attack will !e different fro' one wing section to another, !ecause of the twist distri!ution. *or aircraft wings, the root is twisted 'ore yielding higher at the root, while the tip is twisted less, even twisted down. -et us assu'e that this section has a local .l vs. lift curve slope denoted !y the sy'!ol /a0 /. )ur #-0 thin airfoil theory says that this slope is #. In practice, !ecause of viscous effects, the actual slope will !e slightly less than #. Prandtl1s theory allows us to use the 'easured value for the lift curve slope, if we wish. 2his section, in the a!sence of the downwash will produce a lift that is proportional to a0{(y0)-03, 4owever, the downwash reduces the angle !etween the freestrea' that the airfoil sees and the chord line, giving effectively, a lower angle of attack, e5ual to (y0) 6 i where i is called the induced angle of attack. It is given !y"

i = arctan

w V

w V

2hus, the lift generated !y the airfoil at station P is given !y"

w Cl = a0 ( y 0 ) 0 V -ift per unit span = L = & & w # # V c ( y 0 )C l = a 0V c ( y 0 ) ( y 0 ) 0 V # #

*ro' 7utta-8oukowski theore' lift per unit span is V( y& ) . 95uating these two e+pressions we get"
& w # = V aV c 0 # V

)r,
w = V( y 0 ) V0 # a0 c( y 0 )

(#) 95uating (&) and (#), we get the following integral e5uation for the circulation distri!ution (y0) along the chord line"
( y0 ) =0 ( y 0 ) +
#( y0 ) & + a0Vc( y 0 ) % V
y =+b $ #

y =b $ #

(y

d 0 y)

(:) 2he a!ove e5uation says the following. ;e always know the variation of chord along the span, the variation of the airfoil angle of attack (accounting for twist) along the span, and have so'e knowledge a!out the <ero-lift-angle of the airfoils used in the construction of the wing. 2hen the circulation distri!ution 'ay !e co'puted !y analytically, or nu'erically, !y solving the a!ove integral e5uation. )nce we know the circulation distri!ution, we can co'pute sectional lift distri!ution -1. 4ow a!out drag= In #-0 flows, there is no drag. 4owever, !ecause of the apparent change in the flow angle of attack caused !y the downwash, the lift vector is now perpendicular to the new flow direction rather than the original freestrea' direction, as shown in the figure !elow.

>ltered flow direction due to downwash w?

-ift acts nor'al to altered flow direction

)riginal flow direction

>s a result of the rearward tilt of the lift vector, a co'ponent of the lift is directed rearwords, and acts as drag. 2his co'ponent is shown as the hori<ontal dotted line vector in the a!ove figure. *or s'all induced angles of attack, this drag force e5uals
D = L tan i L w V

;e can calculate this 5uantity at each span station if we know lift and the downwash velocity, w. Both these re5uire knowledge of the circulation distri!ution . )nce we know the sectional lift (per unit span) -1 and sectional drag 01, we can integrate this over the entire wing (analytically, or nu'erically) to get the lift and drag of the entire wing.