Hello everyone!
Welcome to the summary video of the course Introduction to Aerodynamics.
Throughout this course, we’ve tried to answer three fundamental questions about aerodynamics:
- What are aerodynamics and fluid mechanics?
- Why do we study aerodynamics and the flow around objects?
- How do we study these flows around 2D and 3D objects?
To answer these questions, we first introduced flow visualization methods like streamlines, streaklines, pathlines, and string tubes. We presented the fundamental aerodynamic variables for our analysis, such as pressure, density, velocity, and temperature. We also explained the boundary layer, a crucial concept in understanding how the flow interacts with an object and how drag is produced.
After this, we studied the potential theory with the superposition of potential flows, amongst which we have the superposition of a source and a sink, which allows us to construct more complex flows. Then, we introduced the Magnus Effect and its applications to real cases. We ended this part with the fundamental Kutta-Joukowski theorem that explains how the lift can be calculated from the circulation around an airfoil.
Once we finished with the fundamentals, we started with the 2D theory by introducing the geometry of airfoils and the parameters that modify it. We also saw practical geometries, such as the NACA family, one of aerodynamics’s most important airfoil families. Finally, we discussed 2D flow analysis by presenting the Thin Airfoil Theory and the Vortex Panel Methods.
Next, we entered into the 3D flow analysis by describing the geometry of wings, the devices used to modify it, such as flaps, and the concept of planform and its different types. After that, we started with the Finite Wing Theory, where we introduced the downwash, which creates a downward velocity that generates an induced angle of attack that produces induced drag. Then, we focussed on devices that help reduce the induced drag, such as winglets, and mentioned their different types and possible locations, and ended by discussing their applications to sailboats. We then explained the Lifting Line Theory and studied how the planform can affect performance and how the wing twist can modify the zero-lift angle.
We ended the course by introducing the Vortex Lattice Method and by using it, together with many other concepts seen during the course, to explain how a sail aerodynamic analysis can be carried out.
So this has been all for this course, and I hope you have enjoyed it and that it will be helpful for you from now on.
Thank you very much! And remember that Navalapp has other courses where you can further develop sail analysis and yacht design.