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Aerodynamic Centers Of Arbitrary Airfoils Below Stall, Douglas F. Hunsaker, Orrin D. Pope, Jeffrey D. Taylor, Josh Hodson

Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Student Publications and Presentations

The aerodynamic center of an airfoil is commonly estimated to lie at the quarter-chord. This traditional estimate is based on thin airfoil theory, which neglects aerodynamic and geometric nonlinearities. Even below stall, these nonlinearities can have a significant effect on the location of the aerodynamic center. Here, a method is presented for accurately predicting the aerodynamic center of any airfoil from known lift, drag, and pitching-moment data as a function of angle of attack. The method accounts for aerodynamic and geometric nonlinearities, and it does not include small-angle, small-camber, and thin-airfoil approximations. It is shown that the aerodynamic center of …