We can divide an airfoil shape into two categories: Symmetrical and Non-Symmetrical. Center of Pressure (CP): Point where the resultant pressure acts on the airfoil.įrom the early days of aviation to the modern days of sophisticated flying machines, hundreds of airfoil shapes have been designed and even more, are waiting to join the list.Angle Of Attack (AOA): Acute angle between the chord line of the airfoil and the relative airflow.Mean Camber Line: Line drawn connecting the two extremities, running equidistant from the upper and lower surfaces.Chord Line: The straight line joining the two extremities of the leading edge and trailing edge.Camber: Curvature of the airfoil in upper and lower surfaces.Leading Edge and Trailing Edge: These are the two extremities of the airfoil shape.Let us take a deeper dive into the airfoil shape and see how it redefines the aviation industry.įAA defines an airfoil as a “Structure designed to obtain reaction upon its surface from the air through which it moves or that moves past such a structure.” Definitions are always hard to keep in mind, therefore when simply put Airfoil is any shape that generates a pressure difference when directed into an airflow.Īll the fancy diagrams we come across as airfoil shapes are the cross-sections of wings. Yes, you guessed it correctly it is none other than the Airfoil shape. However, there is one shape in the world that shapes the aviation industry to its finest positions.

Shapes! We have been dealing with a plethora of shapes from our kindergarten to advanced studies.

Airplane airfoil