An evaluation of the influence of airfoil selection on wing-body drag for a general aviation aircraft

The computational tools available to an aerodynamicist today make it possible to refine an aircraft design to a degree not possible in the past without extensive wind tunnel testing. This paper reports the results of a study intended to define the wing geometry of a high performance, single engine, four seat aircraft, the Melmoth 2. Fundamental questions relating to the computational prediction of aircraft drag had to be confronted and are hopefully answered herein. Once the methodology was developed, parametric studies were conducted on the wing of the subject aircraft. The constraints imposed resulted in the primary variables being wing airfoil type and wing incidence. Wing tip sweep was also investigated. The end result is a more highly optimized low drag aircraft configuration. Nomenclature