Design and Testing of a Multi-Element Airfoil for Short-Takeoff-and-Landing Ultralight Aircraft

• Published in: Journal of aircraft 2009-09, Vol.46 (5), p.1795-1807, Article 1795
• Main Authors: Coiro, D. P, Nicolosi, F, Grasso, F
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Aerodynamics; Air transportation and traffic; Aircraft; Applied sciences; Exact sciences and technology; Ground, air and sea transportation, marine construction; Numerical analysis; Optimization; Wind tunnels
• ISSN: 0021-8669; 1533-3868
• DOI: 10.2514/1.43429

The design and analysis of a new airfoil to be employed on a ultralight aircraft with short takeoff and landing is presented. An inverse design philosophy has been applied and is described; the numerical analysis performed used XFOIL, MSES, and TBVOR computational codes and the effects of airfoil shape on complete aircraft performances were taken into account. A high-lift configuration, including slat and single-slotted flap geometries, has been developed and is illustrated in this paper. Exhaustive wind-tunnel tests were performed at the Department of Aerospace Engineering and the experimental results are described here. To validate numerical results and to analyze the effect of laminar bubbles on airfoil performance, the pressures on airfoil surface and in the wake were measured and flow visualizations were done using fluorescent oil. The landing configuration was also tested and an experimental optimization of flap and slat positions was carried out to obtain a high maximum lift coefficient. [PUBLICATION ABSTRACT]