mwtrull

I have thoroughly enjoyed the recent discussions of airfoils and aerodynamics. And while I can follow most of what has been discussed, I realize I need to study to acquire enough knowledge to do anything more than follow along. So could I get some recommendations for books to read?

I would expect a good start would be a fundamental primer on aerodynamics, at least as it applies to model sailplanes. And then a text that describes how to use the principles of aerodynamics to design model planes would also be wonderful.

I do not expect to be designing anything myself, but I would expect an understanding of how aerodynamics relate to design would be essential to understanding any plane I might fly.

And finally, a recommendation for a discussion of airfoil principles, particularly as it relates to airfoil selection would also be appreciated. Toward this end, I found these references and wondered if they are educational or merely provide reference data for designers:

Soartech #8 Airfoils at Low Speed, Selig, Donovan, Fraser

Summary of Low-Speed Airfoil Data, Vol.1, Selig

Summary Of Low-Speed Airfoil Data, Vol.2, Selig

Summary Of Low-Speed Airfoil Data, Vol.3, Selig

Thank you for your comments!

Sincerely,

Michael

Ollie

Model Aircraft Aerodynamics by Martin Simons is good reading. The heavier math is included in the Apendices rather than cluttering up the main text. The units used are metric rather than English units.

R/C model Airplane Design by Andy Lennon covers basic design procedures.

I highly recommend PC Soar. You can put in your sailplane configuration and PC Soar will compute the performance of your design in moments and display the results compared to other designs. You can evolve your design in the direction you want to go in no time through successive iterations. It has all the wind tunnel test data (of the references you list) in its data base. See:
http://my.athenet.net/~atkron95/pcsoar.htm

I also recommend that you study the designs of Dr. Mark Drela. Join the yahoo group at:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Allegr...guid=108420033
The files section has many of his designs. Dr. Drela has designed R/C model sailplanes with higher strength to weight ratios and more sophisticaed aerodynamics than any others I have seen. Each model has airfoils custom designed for the application.

banktoturn

Michael,

I agree with Ollie. I don't know of any book that would be better to start with than Model Aircraft Aerodynamics. Not only are the explanations pretty good, it is aimed at model aircraft, rather than full scale ones.

banktoturn

mwtrull

Thanks for the recommendations.

I found Model Aircraft Aerodynamics and have a copy on the way, but I have yet to find Andy Lennon's book available any where.

Do you know how his R/C Model Airplane Design compares with his Basics of R/C Model Aircraft Design: Practical Techniques for Building Better Models by Andy Lennon? The latter can be found at Amazon.

Sincerely,

Michael

BMatthews

I've got nothing to add to the book list above. All excellent titles.

That list of your's is mostly the data from the testing sessions done by Dr Selig and others. Good reference and lots of key discussions about what's important and what's not. I have the Soartech 8 and can recomend it highly for the excellent non data content.

The data that's referenced in these books is all available at Dr Selig's web site. I'll have to dig it up or you can do a Google search for uiuc and selig and it'll be there for sure. I've never bookmarked it because it's so easy to find.

I've hit a LOT of great and basic aerodynamics sites recently thanks to doing research for some of my answers to posts here. Try google'ing for things like "lift coefficient", "center of pressure" and many of the other terms and you'll find some great sites. Cruse through them and pick up what you can and bookmark it for later for a second read of the complex ones.

And a search through some of the back posts should turn up lots of links to sites mentioned by everyone.