AeroFoil, A 2-d Airfoil Design And Analysis Program

AeroFoil Version 2.1 is a full-featured airfoil analysis program, integrated with the very best multi-point inverse airfoil design tool available, and all at a very affordable price.

You may down-load a free copy of Version 2.1 and evaluate it for 14 days. You will be able to perform all of the calculations of airfoil design and analysis but not print or save any data. After 14 days, it will automatically convert to AeroFoil Lite. The lite version will perform all calculations, but only on a limited set of airfoils. You may continue to use AeroFoil Lite as long as you like and it may be registered at any time.

Surface velocity around an NLF-0414F at 5.5 degree angle of attack

Pressure Coefficient around an NLF-0414F at 5.5 degree angle of attack

AeroFoil is an airfoil design and analysis program written in Visual Basic. It is intended to be the most "user-friendly" of its type. AeroFoil uses the vortex panel method and integral boundary layer equations to calculate drag, lift, and airfoil pitching moment at different angles of attack. Direct comparisons of up to three airfoils at a time may be performed.

Airfoil design with AeroFoil is both easy and powerful. Changes to the performance characteristics of an airfoil may be made in seconds.

Calculations are performed at either constant velocity, as in a wind tunnel, or in one of two simulations of the actual conditions of an airfoil in flight. The airfoil is defined by readily available coordinate data, created using NACA methods, a simple transformation model, or generated from a user-defined velocity profile through what is known as inverse design.

Results show an excellent comparison to published wind tunnel data. When compared with XFoil Version 6.94, AeroFoil has a higher degree of accuracy, particularly in the estimation of post-stall behavior and the maximum coefficient of lift and angle of attack at which the maximum will occur.

Lift, pitch moment, and drag comparisons between experimental results, AeroFoil, and XFoil for an NLF-0215F at a Reynolds Number of 9,000,000

Program output is in a variety of forms. Graphical views are in a format similar to published wind tunnel results. Tabulated results may be printed directly or saved in a text file to be imported into other analytical software

NLF(1)-0215F

Angle of Zero Lift: -6.000 Degrees

Aerodynamic Center: x/c= 0.2614  y/c= 0.0287
Pitch Moment: -0.162

Reynolds Number: 3,000,000
          Lift    Pitch    Drag    Lower Surface     Upper Surface
Alpha     Coef   Moment    Coef     Turb    Sep       Turb    Sep
-7.00   -0.142   -0.163   0.0086   0.0097  0.8488    0.5409  1.0000
-6.00    0.000   -0.165   0.0081   0.0110  0.8731    0.5307  1.0000
-5.00    0.150   -0.164   0.0081   0.0126  1.0000    0.5213  1.0000
-4.00    0.261   -0.166   0.0079   0.0145  1.0000    0.5122  1.0000
-3.00    0.372   -0.167   0.0077   0.0170  1.0000    0.5032  1.0000
-2.00    0.483   -0.168   0.0056   0.5977  1.0000    0.4940  0.9998
-1.00    0.592   -0.170   0.0057   0.6060  1.0000    0.4840  0.9991
 0.00    0.701   -0.171   0.0059   0.6124  1.0000    0.4731  0.9984
 1.00    0.810   -0.172   0.0062   0.6177  1.0000    0.4605  0.9977
 2.00    0.918   -0.173   0.0065   0.6223  1.0000    0.4455  0.9968
 3.00    1.025   -0.173   0.0069   0.6264  1.0000    0.4262  0.9958
 4.00    1.131   -0.174   0.0074   0.6303  1.0000    0.3982  0.9946
 5.00    1.235   -0.175   0.0084   0.6339  1.0000    0.3487  0.9929
 6.00    1.330   -0.175   0.0108   0.6373  1.0000    0.2155  0.9888
 7.00    1.420   -0.176   0.0133   0.6407  1.0000    0.1201  0.9837
 8.00    1.507   -0.177   0.0155   0.6440  1.0000    0.0695  0.9781
 9.00    1.591   -0.177   0.0175   0.6472  1.0000    0.0431  0.9723
10.00    1.667   -0.178   0.0195   0.6504  1.0000    0.0278  0.9649
11.00    1.726   -0.179   0.0216   0.6536  1.0000    0.0198  0.9535
12.00    1.713   -0.182   0.0242   0.6569  1.0000    0.0116  0.9238
13.00    1.626   -0.187   0.0272   0.6603  1.0000    0.0058  0.8770
14.00    1.545   -0.191   0.0300   0.6639  1.0000    0.0044  0.8344
15.00    1.456   -0.196   0.0331   0.6676  1.0000    0.0035  0.7922

Lift, Drag, and Pitch vs Angle of Attack of an NLF-0215F

AeroFoil's most powerful feature is its ability to create new airfoils using what is known as inverse design. The design process is fully automated and requires no unusual knowledge of aerodynamics.

Using nothing more than slider bars and radio buttons, the AeroFoil user can tailor specific regions of an airfoil to meet the desired design parameters. No other inverse design software is as simple to use.

The local air velocity over an airfoil defines all of its performance characteristics. Using AeroFoil, the designer creates a specific velocity profile and AeroFoil does the rest.

It takes only seconds to alter the performance characteristics of your new airfoil.

Maximum lift, pitch moment, drag coefficient, and even airfoil dimensions are changed with just a mouse click and drag.

The vast majority of other airfoil design programs which claim to perform inverse design are based on trail-and-error re-drawing of the airfoil. True inverse design is vastly different and has previously been reserved for aerodynamic experts. AeroFoil puts the inverse design process within reach of anyone with a general knowledge of how a wing works.

AeroFoil is currently in use at The University Of Virginia in their undergraduate Aerospace Engineering program. Try it and see for yourself.

AeroFoil is available for download now. It comes with a free 14 day evaluation period and a single user license for between $20 and $150. If you choose not to register your copy of AeroFoil by the end of the trial period, it will automatically convert to AeroFoil Lite. All calculation options will be available, but only on a limited set of airfoils. AeroFoil Lite may be registered at any time to restore features.