![]() ![]() ![]() To compensate for this, a supercritical airfoil uses an accentuated curve along the bottom side of the wing’s trailing edge. If the design was inverted, one would expect the wing to experience negative lift during flight. According to Bernoulli’s principle, this would mean the pressure at the top of the wing is lower than at the bottom of the wing, thus the aircraft would experience lift. In a traditional airfoil design, the rounded upper surface forces airflow to move faster along the top of the airfoil. One point that a knowledgeable designer might note is that the flattened surface on the top of a supercritical airfoil will cause the wing to experience lower lift during flight. ![]() The chord line shows the angle of attack with respect to the horizontal axis. A cross-sectional view of a supercritical airfoil is shown below. A supercritical airfoil inverts this, meaning the top side of the airfoil is flatter while the bottom side has more curvature. Traditional airfoil design applies a camber to the top and bottom surfaces of a wing the top half typically has a larger curvature while the bottom surface has smaller curvature and appears flatter. We’ll explore these points in this article as well as what you should look for in CFD simulations of supercritical airfoils. Why is a supercritical airfoil design important and what are its implications in terms of fluid flow over the wing? The benefits arise in terms of drag, which lowers overall fuel consumption, specifically when the aircraft approaches transonic speeds. When the traditional airfoil design is inverted, we get a structure called a supercritical airfoil, a design that now experiences wide usage in commercial and military aircraft. The shape and size of an airfoil are two design factors considered in airfoil design and simulation, where the shape can include the curvature of the top and bottom sides of a wing. Supercritical airfoils experience lower drag and develop less intense shockwaves due to the shape of the airfoil.Įven the casual aerodynamics enthusiast knows the shape of an airfoil will affect how a plane can maneuver as well as how much lift it can experience during flight. All airfoils experience drag and flow separation as well as shockwave development at transonic airspeeds.Ī supercritical airfoil inverts conventional airfoil design and uses a lower-profile surface along the top side of the wing. ![]()
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