Airfoil Section Characteristics at High Angles of Attack

Information from the literature and from recent investigations is used herein to summarize briefly the effects of airfoil section parameters and flow variables on the aerodynamic characteristics of two-dimensional symmetrical airfoils at high angles of attack. The results presented indicate that airfoil thickness ratio, Reynolds number, Mach number, and surface roughness can all have an important effect on the maximum lift coefficient. The effect of surface roughness seems to be particularly important. Not only can surface roughness cause large decreases in maximum lift coefficient, but also the magnitudes of the effects of Reynolds number, Mach number, and airfoil thickness ratio are much reduced by surface roughness. Beyond the stall, changes in section thickness ratio appear to have little effect on the aerodynamic characteristics of airfoil
sections. An investigation of one section through an angle-of-attack range of from 0° to 360° shows that the drag coefficient reaches a value of 2 at an angle of attack of 90°.