An Experimental Evaluation of Advanced Rotorcraft Airfoils in the NASA Ames Eleven-foot Transonic Wind Tunnel

Five full scale rotorcraft airfoils were tested in the NASA Ames Eleven-Foot Transonic Wind Tunnel for full scale Reynolds numbers at Mach numbers from 0.3 to 1.07. The models, which spanned the tunnel from floor to ceiling, included two modern baseline airfoils, the SC1095 and SC1094 R8, which have been previously tested in other facilities. Three advanced transonic airfoils, designated the SSC-A09, SSC-A07, and SSC-B08, were tested to confirm predicted performance and provide confirmation of advanced airfoil design methods. The test showed that the eleven-foot tunnel is suited to two-dimensional airfoil testing. Maximum lift coefficients, drag coefficients, pitching moments, and pressure coefficient distributions are presented. The airfoil analysis codes agreed well with the data, with the Grumman GRUMFOIL code giving the best overall performance correlation.