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Airfoils,BernoulliandNewton

BernoulliorNewton'sLawsforLift?
Whichisbestfordescribinghowaircraftgettheneededlifttofly?Bernoulli's
equationorNewton'slawsandconservationofmomentum?Thishasbeenan
extremelyactivedebateamongthosewholoveflyingandareinvolvedinthefield.If
thequestionis"Whichisphysicallycorrect?"thentheanswerisclearbothare
correct.Botharebasedonvalidprinciplesofphysics.TheBernoulliequationis
simplyastatementoftheprincipleofconservationofenergyinfluids.Conservation
ofmomentumandNewton's3rdlawareequallyvalidasfoundationprinciplesof
naturewedonotseethemviolated.Thisphysicalvaliditywillundoubtedlynotquell
thedebate,andthistreatmentwillnotsettleit.Butperhapsitcanatleastindicatethe
linesofthediscussion.

ThosewhoadvocateanapproachtoliftbyNewton'slawsappealtotheclear
existanceofastrongdownwashbehindthewingofanaircraftinflight.Thefactthat
theairisforceddownwardclearlyimpliesthattherewillbeanupwardforceonthe
airfoilasaNewton's3rdlawreactionforce.Fromtheconservationofmomentum
viewpoint,theairisgivenadownwardcomponentofmomentumbehindtheairfoil,
andtoconservemomentum,somethingmustbegivenanequalupwardmomentum.
ThosewhoprefertodiscussliftinthesetermsofteninvoketheKuttaJoukowski
theoremforliftonarotatingcylinder.Theliftonaspinningcylinderhasbeenclearly
demonstrated,anditsdiscussionincludesavortexinthecirculatingair.Many
discussionsofairfoilliftinvokesuchavortexintheeffectivecirculationofairaround
themovingairfoil.Conservationofangularmomentuminthefluidrequiresan
oppositecirculationintheairshedfromthetrailingedgeofthewing,andsuchvortex
motionhasbeenobserved.

Index
Bernoulli
concepts
References
Eastlake

Craig

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Airfoils,BernoulliandNewton

NASA
Aerodynamics

ThosewhoadvocatetheBernoulliapproachtoliftpointtodetailedmeasurementof
thepressuressurroundingairfoilsinwindtunnelsandinflight.Suchpressure
measurementsaretypicallydonewithPitottubes.Correlatingthepressureswiththe
Bernoulliequationgivesreasonableagreementwithobservations.
ThosewhoargueagainstmodelingtheliftprocesswiththeBernoulliequationpoint
tothefactthattheflowisnotincompressible,andthereforethedensitychangesin
theairshouldbetakenintoaccount.Thisistruetheidealgaslawshouldbe
obeyedanddensitychangeswillinevitablyresult.ThisdoesnotrendertheBernoulli
equationinvalid,itjustmakesithardertoapply.Butthepragmaticsuccessof
modelingtheliftwithBernoulli,neglectingdensitychanges,suggeststhatthedensity
changesaresmall.Pragmaticdifficultiesexistalsoforthosewhowouldmodelthelift
fromNewton'sthirdlawitisdifficulttomeasurethedownwardforceassociated
withthedownwashbecauseisisdistributedintheairstreamleavingthetrailingedge
oftheairfoil.DetractorsfromtheBernoulliapproachoftenmakecalculationsusing
theKuttaJoukowskitheorem(seeCraig).
Illustrationofdifferentanglesofattack

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Airfoils,BernoulliandNewton

FlyingUpsideDown
Partofthefascinationofanaerobaticsdisplayisthatwithloopsandupsidedown
flight.IfthegreatercurvatureontopofthewingandtheBernoullieffectare
evokedtoexplainlift,howisthispossible?Theillustrationsbelowattempttoshow
thatanincreaseinairstreamvelocityoverthetopofthewingcanbeachievedwith
airfoilsurfaceintheuprightorinvertedposition.Itrequiresadjustmentoftheangle
ofattack,butasclearlydemonstratedinalmosteveryairshow,itcanbedone.

Index
Bernoulli
concepts
Reference
Eastlake

Similarsketchescanshowtheconditionsforliftonasymmetricairfoil.Whilethe
typicalasymmetricshapeofanairfoilmakeincreaseefficiencyofliftproductionin
itsuprightposition,theasymmetryoftheairfoilisnotessentialforproducinglift.

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AirfoilTerminology

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Airfoils,BernoulliandNewton

Index
BasedonEastlake,CharlesN.,"AnAerodynamicist'sViewofLift,Bernoulli,and
Newton",ThePhysicsTeacher40,166(March2002).

Bernoulli
concepts

Itisusefultobeawareofsomeofthetermsusedintheaerodynamicfieldwhen
References
discussingairfoillift.Criticaltoliftistheangleofattack,whichistheanglebetween
Eastlake
therelativevelocityandthechordlineoftheairfoil.Thechordlineisthestraightline
fromtheleadingedgetothetrailingedgeoftheairfoil.Althoughtherelativevelocity
isshownashorizontalintheillustration,thatisforlevelflightonly.Iftheaircraftis
ascendingordescending,therelativevelocitywillnotbehorizontal,buttheangleof
attackwouldstillbedefinedastheanglebetweentherelativevelocityoftheairand
thechordlineoftheairfoil.Themeanlineoftheairfoilisthelineequidistantfromthe
loweranduppersurfaces,measuredperpendiculartothechordline.Thecamberof
theairfoilisthemaximumdistancebetweenthechordlineandthemeanlineandis
usuallyafewpercentofthelengthofthechord.Aerodynamicistsusuallymeasure
anglesrelativetotherelativevelocityoftheair,sometimesreferredtoasthe"relative
wind".Liftanddragarethenmeasuredperpendicularandparalleltotherelative
wind,respectively.Inthatcontext,"lift"isnotgenerallyvertical,andnotgenerally
perpendiculartothechordofthewingitisthecomponentofforceperpendicular
totherelativevelocityoftheairorthe"relativewind".
ThegeneralshapeoftheairfoilaboveispatternedaftertheNACA2412airfoil.
AccordingtoEastlake,thisairfoilhasbeenusedonmostsingleengineCessna
aircraftsincethe1940s.Itislikelythemostwidelyusedairfoilintheworld,soithas
beenthoroughlystudied.

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