ESDU 99032:1999

ESDU 99032 presents a slightly extended version of VGK (termed VGKD) for generating the camber form to be applied to an aerofoil profile having a specified thickness distribution, such that, at some value of incidence, and at specified flow conditions of freestream Mach number, Reynolds number and boundary-layer transition locations, a specified upper-surface pressure distribution is achieved. The freestream Mach number must be less than unity. The method also yields the values of the lift, drag and pitching moment coefficients and the incidence for the designed aerofoil at the specified flow conditions. The design method is inverse, that is the VGK aerofoil method is used repeatedly in an iteration loop that includes an algorithm to adjust the aerofoil camber in the light of the target pressure distribution and the pressure distribution currently achieved. Two classes of target upper-surface pressure distributions are dealt with: one is shock-free and the other corresponds to a flow with a weak shock. The capabilities and limitations of the design method are illustrated by a number of examples, for which detailed results are given.

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