Lift and Drag Measurements of Tandem, Symmetric Airfoils

Abstract

Authors: Giovanni Lombardi, Joseph Katz, Maurizio Foresta

Keywords: America's Cup, rigid sail, tandem airfoils, wind tunnel, aerodynamics, sailboat

Control surfaces, such as airplane elevators or rudders may use symmetric airfoil shapes which are mostly based on single airfoil geometry. For the 2013 America's Cup sailboat competition rigid sails were specified, based on tandem symmetrical airfoils of equal chord. A parametric study, using numerical methods, on the effect of different geometrical variables led to the development of an improved sail geometry.