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Old 04-19-2004 | 11:14 PM
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BMatthews
 
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Default RE: Reverse Engineering NACA parameters

Nothing says it truly is a NACA section. So many designers use some generic airfoil or even draw it freehand based on experience that it's just as likely that it is a free form airfoil. Sure you can measure the thickness and max camber point and value but there's no guarantee that the shape is a NACA form. But if you measure a few stations you can get some Naca like numbers to use. You need the max thickness and the max camber and the point at which the max camber occurs. All those are expressed at % of the chord. The 4 digit naming convention is as follows. The first digit is the maximum camber value. The second times 10 is the location of the maximum camber and the final two digits are the thickness. The 5 digit series is much more complex to decipher but most models use shapes similar to the 4 digit series.

On the other hand it may be one of the Eppler or similar airfoils with the unique shape envelopes that go with these newer airfoils designed by other means then the basic geometrical NACA types.