SUBSONICFLOWOVERTHINAIRFOILS

Recallthegoverningequations:
2 xx yy 0
where,
1 M2
theboundaryconditionrequiringtheflowbetangentialtotheairfoilsurfacey=Y(x):
y V

dY
dx

imposedatthechordliney=0,

(1)

(2)

andtheresultweareinterestedin,namely,thesurfacepressurecoefficientCp:
C p 2

x
V

NotethattheangleofattackinformationisbuiltintotheairfoilshapeY(x).

(3)

TransformationofCompressibleFlowProblemintoanIncompressibleFlowproblem:
Ourfirststepistotransformthiscompressibleflowproblemintoan
incompressibleflowproblem.Therearetworeasonsforthis.
(1)Incompressibleflowsmaybeinexpensivelymodeledusingpanelmethodson
personalcomputers.AnumberofpanelcodeswritteninBASIC,Pascal,CorMATLAB
areavailableinourschoolforthis.PleasecontactSankar(8943014)ifyouareinterested
ingettingacopyofthesecodes.
(2)
Inoldendays,beforecomputers,airfoilshadtobetestedinwindtunnels.Itis
alwayseasierandlessexpensivetostudyortestanairfoilunderlowspeed
incompressibleflowconditionsthanundercompressibleflowconditions.
Weknowthatourgoverningequationandboundaryconditionarelinear.Therefore,we
seeksimplelineartransformationsthatwilltransformtheflowfromacompressibleflow
coordinatesystem(x,y)toanincompressibleflowcoordinatesystem().
=Bx
=Cy

(4)
The disturbance velocity potential in the incompressible flow regime is
differentfrominthecompressibleflowregime.Weassumethatthesetwoarelinearly
related:
=A

(5)

TheairfoilshapesinthecompressibleflowY(x)andincompressibleflow
problemY1()willbedifferent.Weassumethattheyareaffinelyrelated.Thatis,their
slopesdifferfromeachotheronlybyaconstant,D:

(6)
Thefreestreamvelocitymayalsobedifferentinthesetwoproblems.Weassume
thatthefreestreamvelocityV1intheincompressibleflowregimeisdifferentfromthe
freestreamspeedVinthecompressibleflowregime.Thatis,
V1=EV
Intheaboverelations,theconstantsA,B,C,DandEareatthistimeunknown.
TheincompressibleflowisgovernedbyLaplacesequation:

(7)

(8)
Theboundaryconditionappliedattheairfoilchordline=0is

ThesurfacepressurecoefficientCp1intheincompressibleflowis

(9)

(10)
Nowwehavedefinedallthetransformationrelations.Wenowbegintotransformthe
compressibleflowequation,BoundaryconditionanddefinitionofCpgivenbyequations
(1),(2)and(3)toformsthatresembletheirincompressibleflowcounterparts,equations
(8),(9)and(10).

(11)
When the second derivatives of with respect to (x , y) given above are
substitutedintothegoverningequation(1)weget:

(12)
Comparingthisrelationwithequation(8),weconcludethatB,Candarerelated
by
B=C
(13)
Whenthefirstderivativeof withrespecttoy,givenintermsof and in
equation(11)aresubstitutedintothesurfaceboundarycondition(2)weget

Comparingthisrelationwithequation(9)weconcludethat
A=CDE

(14)

(15)

Now,wehavetwoequations(13)and(15)linkingfiveconstantsA,B,C,Dand
E.Thismeanswecanchoosesomeofourconstantstomakeouralgebraasconvenientas
possible.Wefirstchoose
B=1
E=1
Equation(13)thenbecomes:

(16)

C=

andequation(15)becomes
A=D
(18)
Thisstillleavesuswithtwoequations(17)and(18)andthreeconstants,C,Aand
D.Oneoftheseconstantsmaybechosentobeanythingwewant.Thereisnouniqueway
thisoneconstantshouldbechosen.
Historically,thefollowingtwochoicesbecamethemostpopular.
PrandtlGlauertRule:
Inthistransformation,theairfoilshapeisthesameinthecompressibleflow
problemandtheincompressibleflowproblem.Thismeanstheirslopesareidentical,and
fromequation(6),
D=1
Thisyields

(18)

C=
A=
(19)
Thesurfacepressuredistributionsinthecompressibleandincompressibleflows
maynowberelated.Considerequation(3).Replacethexderivativeofthedisturbance
potentialinthatequationwith/,usingthetransformations(11).Then,

Comparingthiswithequation(10),wearriveatthePrandtlGlauertRule:

(20)

(21)
Thus,toapplyPrandtlGlauertrule,simplytest(oranalyzeusingPanelmethod)
the same airfoil under incompressible flow conditions. For any compressible flow
condition,dividetheincompressibleflowCpbytogetthesurfacepressurecoefficient
undercompressibleconditions.
WecanintegratetheCpdistributiontogetliftanddragcoefficients.Thenitis
easytoshowthat.

(22)
Whencomputingandcomparingthepitchingmoment,theyshouldbeaboutthe
same hinge point (quarter cord, leading edge etc.). Note that in 2D incompressible
potentialflow,thedragiszero.
GothertsRule:
InGothertsapproach,A=1.Fromequation(5)thedisturbancepotentialsand
areidentical.Then,fromequation(18)Dequals1/.SinceDlinkstheslopeoftheairfoil
inthecompressibleplanewiththeairfoilintheincompressibleflowproblem,theairfoils
inthesetwoproblemswillbedifferent.Theslopeofairfoilintheincompressibleflow
problem will be higher, by a factor 1/ compared to the slope of the airfoil in the
compressibleflow.WecanshowthattheCpdistributionsofthesetwoairfoilsarelinked
usingaproceduresimilartoPrandtlGlauertrule.Thefinalresultis

(23)
Whichoneofthesetworulesisbetter?
Engineers prefer the PrandtlGlauert rule because the airfoil shape does not
changewithMachnumber.Thatis,wecananalyzeanairfoilonceandforall,under
incompressible flow conditions. For any given Mach number we can get the Cp
distributionbysimplydividingtheincompressibleCpby.
Gothertsrule,ontheotherhand,requiresustochangetheincompressibleflow
airfoilshapeandslope,everytimetheMachnumberchanges.Wewillhavetotestanew
airfoil,oranalyzeanewairfoil,wheneverchanges.
Exercise:Checkrelations(11)and(23).