Lift and Drag Review and Renew

Correlating 50 Years of NACA / NASA Test Data

for the Effects of Wing Planform and Thickness
15 April 2013 Update

J. Philip Barnes
Pelican Aero Group

P
d

Lift and Drag Review and Renew - Correlations of 50 Years of NACA and NASA Test Data on the Effects of Wing Planform and Thickness
www.HowFliesTheAlbatross.com
J. Philip Barnes
April 2013

Pelican
Aero Group

Presentation Purpose and Contents

Review & renew: wing / body lift & induced drag
Aspect ratio, sweep, & thickness
Subsonic, linear range (moderate incidence)

Elliptical wing and Prandtl's formula for lift ~ 1918

Helmbold's enhancement for low aspect ratio ~ 1942
Diederich's enhancement for sweep ~ 1951
Polhamus' enhancement for sweep ~ 1957

Prandtl-Jones:
"thick" wing or body induced-drag ~ 1918/1946

The thin-wing induced-drag surprise ~ 1950

Polhamus: "thin" wing or body induced drag ~ 1950
Transition, Prandtl-Jones to Polhamus ~ 2012
New: Synergy of airfoil & wing data thereof

Summary and sample application of new method

Lift and Drag Review and Renew - Correlations of 50 Years of NACA and NASA Test Data on the Effects of Wing Planform and Thickness
J. Philip Barnes
April 2013
www.HowFliesTheAlbatross.com

Pelican
Aero Group

Configurations studied ~ Data and theory references

www.NTRS.NASA.gov
www.AERADE.Cranfield.ac.uk
www.Google.com

114 configurations, thickness: 02 - 20%

Lift and Drag Review and Renew - Correlations of 50 Years of NACA and NASA Test Data on the Effects of Wing Planform and Thickness
J. Philip Barnes
April 2013
www.HowFliesTheAlbatross.com

Pelican
Aero Group

Wing geometry and aerodynamic terms

S planarea
b span
c chord
tipchord/rootchord
t streamwise thickness
t/c thicknessratio
A aspectratio=b2/S=b/cav
angleofattack
cL liftcoefficient
liftslope/(2)
cDv vortexdragcoefficient
o leadingedgesweep
c/2 midchordsweep
c/4 quarterchordsweep

t
c

Sweepconversion(givenquarterchordsweep)
tann =tanc/4 +(4/A)(n)(1)/(+1)
Lift and Drag Review and Renew - Correlations of 50 Years of NACA and NASA Test Data on the Effects of Wing Planform and Thickness
J. Philip Barnes
April 2013
www.HowFliesTheAlbatross.com

Pelican
Aero Group

Prandtl and Jones Theories

Ludwig Prandtl

Robert T. Jones

Prandtl
Liftslope(anyA,low)
dcL/d 2A/(A+2)
Induceddrag:cDv cL2/(A)

Jones
Liftslope(lowA,any)
dcL/d = A/2
Induceddrag:cDv =cL2/(A)

PrandtlJones
Induceddrag:cDv cL2/(A)
Butwhataboutthickness?
Lift and Drag Review and Renew - Correlations of 50 Years of NACA and NASA Test Data on the Effects of Wing Planform and Thickness
J. Philip Barnes
April 2013
www.HowFliesTheAlbatross.com

Pelican
Aero Group

Lift slope data and validation of theory

NormalizedLiftslope~TestDataVs.Theory
1.0

0.9

(dcL /d
0.8

0.7

0.6

0.5

0.4

0.3

to
10TO15
27to34
38to46
59to60

0.2

c/2

0.1

AspectRatio,A
0.0
0

10

11

12

Lift and Drag Review and Renew - Correlations of 50 Years of NACA and NASA Test Data on the Effects of Wing Planform and Thickness
J. Philip Barnes
April 2013
www.HowFliesTheAlbatross.com

13

Pelican
Aero Group

Helmbold-Diederich ~ Low-speed lift slope of any wing

F A /( cosc / 2 )
dcL / d
F

2 cosc / 2 2 F 2 4

Lift and Drag Review and Renew - Correlations of 50 Years of NACA and NASA Test Data on the Effects of Wing Planform and Thickness
J. Philip Barnes
April 2013
www.HowFliesTheAlbatross.com

Pelican
Aero Group

Helmbold-Polhamus ~ Low-speed lift slope of any wing

dcL / d
4

A( / 2) 2 ( A / cos c / 2 ) 2 4 2

Lift and Drag Review and Renew - Correlations of 50 Years of NACA and NASA Test Data on the Effects of Wing Planform and Thickness
J. Philip Barnes
April 2013
www.HowFliesTheAlbatross.com

Pelican
Aero Group

Test data ~ rectangular wing lift ~ effect of thickness

Lift and Drag Review and Renew - Correlations of 50 Years of NACA and NASA Test Data on the Effects of Wing Planform and Thickness
J. Philip Barnes
April 2013
www.HowFliesTheAlbatross.com

Pelican
Aero Group

Test data ~ Delta wing-body lift ~ effect of thickness

DeltawingbodyLift(A=2)~EffectofThickness
NACARMA50K20,A50K21,A51K28

0.8

5%
3%
8%

0.7
0.6
0.5
0.4

LiftCoefficient,

0.08
0.05
0.03

cL

0.3
0.2

Minor effect of thickness on lift

0.1
Angleofattack, o
0.0
0

10

12

14

16

18

Lift and Drag Review and Renew - Correlations of 50 Years of NACA and NASA Test Data on the Effects of Wing Planform and Thickness
J. Philip Barnes
April 2013
www.HowFliesTheAlbatross.com

20
Pelican
Aero Group

10

The Thin-wing Induced-drag Surprise ~ Circa 1950

0.20

Delta wing-body linearized drag polar

DeltawingbodyInducedDrag(A=2)~EffectofThickness
A=2,
M 0.25, NACA RM A50K20, A50K21, A51K28
NACARMA50K20,A50K21,A51K28
3%

0.15

5%
8%

Induced drag
coefficient, cDv
InducedDrag
Coefficient,cD

0.10

0.05

SquareofLiftCoefficient~cL2
0.00
0.00

0.10

0.20

0.30

0.40

0.50

0.60

Lift and Drag Review and Renew - Correlations of 50 Years of NACA and NASA Test Data on the Effects of Wing Planform and Thickness
J. Philip Barnes
April 2013
www.HowFliesTheAlbatross.com

Pelican
Aero Group

11

The Thin-wing Induced-drag Surprise ~ Circa 1950

Rectangular wing linearized drag polar
A=4, Effect of thickness, NACA TN 3501
4%

6%

10%

Lift and Drag Review and Renew - Correlations of 50 Years of NACA and NASA Test Data on the Effects of Wing Planform and Thickness
J. Philip Barnes
April 2013
www.HowFliesTheAlbatross.com

Pelican
Aero Group

12

Induced-drag Transition ~ Prandtl-Jones to Polhamus

1.2

[dcD/dcL2 1/(A)]/[1/(dcL/d) 1/(A)]

1.0

Polhamus cD cL
dcD/dcL2 1/(dcL/d)

0.8

Preliminary
Empirical
Correlation

0.6

= e-a(t/c)-b(t/c)

0.4

0.2

0.0

Prandtl-Jones
dcD/dcL2 = 1/(A)

0.2
0.00

0.02

0.04

0.06

Streamwise thickness t/c

0.08

0.10

0.12

0.14

0.16

0.18

0.20

Lift and Drag Review and Renew - Correlations of 50 Years of NACA and NASA Test Data on the Effects of Wing Planform and Thickness
J. Philip Barnes
April 2013
www.HowFliesTheAlbatross.com

0.22

Pelican
Aero Group

13

Effect of thickness on induced drag ~ symmetrical section

Nomenclature
A aspect ratio
vo flight velocity
angle of attack
upwash angle *
cL lift coefficient
cD drag coefficient
cN normal force coef.

cF
cT

cT

Define thrust recovery:

friction force coef. **

cT/[cN tan
cT/[cN [4]

Combine [1,2,3,4]:

chord thrust coef. ***

cN

thrust recovery (0-1)

vo

* Usually negative
** Upper + lower, chordwise
*** Pressure integration, chordwise

Assume elliptical loading

Assume small angles
cL cN 2
[1]
cN /(
[2]
cD cN cT cF [3]

cT

cD cF + (cN2) / ()
+ (1-) (cN2) / (2)
thin or sharp: 0

cF

"thick" : 1

Lift and Drag Review and Renew - Correlations of 50 Years of NACA and NASA Test Data on the Effects of Wing Planform and Thickness
J. Philip Barnes
April 2013
www.HowFliesTheAlbatross.com

Pelican
Aero Group

14

Summary ~ Lift and Drag Review and Renew

Prandtl: Good prediction of unswept wing lift slope
Helmbold: Excellent prediction thereof
particularly at low aspect ratio

Diederich & Polhamus: added effect of sweep

different formulas ~ quite-different curve shapes
essentially identical results, nonetheless

Prandtl & Jones: thick-wing or body induced drag

totally independent methods & purposes
Prandtl: any aspect ratio ~ Jones: Low-A
same formula: cDv = cL2 / (A)

Polhamus: induced drag upper limit

zero thickness, symmetrical section
formula: cDv cL cL2 / (dcL/d)

Enhancements via our review & renew study:

1) Showed Prandtl-Jones drag is limited to thick wings
2) Suggested correlation for thick-to-thin drag transition
3) New formula for induced drag with symmetrical sections
Lift and Drag Review and Renew - Correlations of 50 Years of NACA and NASA Test Data on the Effects of Wing Planform and Thickness
J. Philip Barnes
April 2013
www.HowFliesTheAlbatross.com

Pelican
Aero Group

15

Application of method ~ "Neutral-trimmed" drag polar

01. Set geom (aspect ratio, thickness, & sweep) {A, t/c, c/2}
02. Loop on specified angle of attack, (say from 0o to 10o)
03. Compute the lift slope, dcL/d (Diederich or Polhamus)
04. Compute the lift coefficient, cL (given and dcL/d)
05. Compute Prandtl-Jones induced drag coefficient, cDv_PJ
06. Compute Polhamus induced-drag coefficient, cDv_Po
07. Get induced-drag transition () at thickness ratio (t/c)
08. Compute induced drag coefficient (cDv) given ()
09. Est. zero-lift drag (cDo) {1st mention ~ use 0.02}
10. Compute total drag coefficient, cD = cDo + cDv
11. Compute lift/drag ratio, L/D
12. Plot all results versus or cL

Lift and Drag Review and Renew - Correlations of 50 Years of NACA and NASA Test Data on the Effects of Wing Planform and Thickness
J. Philip Barnes
April 2013
www.HowFliesTheAlbatross.com

Pelican
Aero Group

16

Sample application of method ~ homework assignment

Application: Me-163
Assume:
a) no twist, low Mach number
b) 9% thickness (t/c)

c) section = 0.95
Measure from sketch:

a) Leading-edge sweep (o)

b) Span (b)
c) Root (centerline) & tip chords
Tasks:

t
c

1) Get parameters S, A, , c/2

2) Find L/D, and cL at max L/D
3) e-mail results to:
Phil@HowFliesTheAlbatross.com
Lift and Drag Review and Renew - Correlations of 50 Years of NACA and NASA Test Data on the Effects of Wing Planform and Thickness
J. Philip Barnes
April 2013
www.HowFliesTheAlbatross.com

Pelican
Aero Group

17

About the Author

Phil Barnes has a Masters Degree in Aerospace

Engineering from Cal Poly Pomona and a
Bachelors Degree in Mechanical Engineering
from the University of Arizona. He has 31-years of
experience in the performance analysis and
computer modeling of aerospace vehicles and
subsystems at Northrop Grumman. Phil has
authored diverse technical papers and studies of
gears, computer graphics, orbital mechanics,
aerodynamics,
and
propellers,
including
internationally-recognized studies of albatross
dynamic soaring, regenerative-electric flight, and
"German Jets."

Lift and Drag Review and Renew - Correlations of 50 Years of NACA and NASA Test Data on the Effects of Wing Planform and Thickness
J. Philip Barnes
April 2013
www.HowFliesTheAlbatross.com

Pelican
Aero Group

18