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NACA Airfoil Redesign

Custom airfoil profile design, CFD validation, and scaled wind-tunnel testing to maximize stall angle and minimize drag.

Technical Overview

  • Built foundational understanding of lift, drag, and stall behavior by reducing raw wind-tunnel lift-force data for two reference airfoils into comparative lift-coefficient curves before starting the redesign (see Supplementary Data Analysis below).
  • Designed a custom airfoil in XFLR5, starting from a NACA 0015 baseline, targeting a higher stall angle and lower drag across the operating range.
  • Analyzed the profile computationally in XFoil to characterize lift and drag behavior before committing to a physical test article.
  • Manufactured the finalized profile in SolidWorks, 3D printed it with PrusaSlicer, and validated it through scaled wind-tunnel testing.
  • Compared theoretical, computational, and experimental data to identify sources of error and assess aerodynamic efficiency.
  • Achieved a 5-degree (45%) increase in stall angle over the NACA 0015 baseline, drag coefficient reductions up to 40%, and lift coefficient improvements up to 30%.

Skills & Hardware

  • XFLR5 (Airfoil Design)
  • XFoil (CFD)
  • SolidWorks / PrusaSlicer (3D Printing)
  • Wind-Tunnel Testing

Build Gallery

Custom airfoil profile designed in XFLR5, plotted in MATLAB
01Custom airfoil profile designed in XFLR5, plotted in MATLAB.
NACA 0015 baseline airfoil profile plotted for comparison
02NACA 0015 baseline profile, plotted for direct comparison against the custom design.
XFLR5 analysis of lift coefficient versus Mach number
03XFLR5 analysis: lift coefficient vs. Mach number, characterizing compressibility effects across the flight envelope.
Dimensioned manufacturing drawing of the finalized airfoil profile
04Dimensioned manufacturing drawing of the finalized profile, used to produce the SolidWorks model for 3D printing.
Cl vs alpha curve comparing theoretical, computational, and experimental data
05Cl vs. alpha curve comparing theoretical, computational (XFoil), and experimental wind-tunnel data.
Finished 3D-printed airfoil test article
06Finished 3D-printed test article, ready for wind-tunnel mounting.

Supplementary Wind-Tunnel Data Analysis

Before redesigning an airfoil of my own, I built intuition for lift and stall behavior by reducing raw wind-tunnel lift-force data for two reference airfoils — a BE50 section and the Eppler 387A — into comparative lift-coefficient curves, computing CL = L / 0.5ρV²S from each test's density, velocity, and reference-area conditions.

Lift coefficient vs angle of attack comparison for the BE50 and Eppler 387A reference airfoils
07Lift coefficient vs. angle of attack for the BE50 and Eppler 387A reference airfoils, computed from raw wind-tunnel lift-force data. The E387A shows an abrupt lift jump near α ≈ 10–11° — consistent with a laminar-separation-bubble burst — before stalling sharply around CL ≈ 2.5. The BE50 stalls far more gradually, plateauing near CL ≈ 0.9–1.0 from α ≈ 8° onward.