A Systematic Investigation of Pressure Distributions at High Speeds over Five Representative NACA Low-Drag and Conventional Airfoil Sections

Pressure distributions determined from high-speed wind-tunnel tests are presented for five NACA airfoil sections representative of both low-drag and conventional types. Section characteristics of lift, drag, and quarter-chord pitching moment are presented along with the measured pressure distributions for the NACA 65sub2-215 (a=0.5), 66sub2-215 (a=0.6), 0015, 23015, and 4415 airfoils for Mach numbers up to approximately 0.85. A critical study is made of the airfoil pressure distributions in an attempt to formulate a set of general criteria for defining the character of high speed flows over typical airfoil shapes. Comparisons are made of the relative characteristics of the low-drag and conventional airfoils investigated insofar as they would influence the high-speed performance and the high-speed stability and control characteristics of airplanes employing these wing sections.