Realistic air velocties regarding a wing while in flight

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SUMMARY

The discussion centers on realistic air velocities over an aerofoil during flight, specifically with a plane traveling at a constant altitude and an average velocity of 250 m/s. It is established that the velocity over the top of the wing should be greater than that underneath, with typical values for the velocity ratio (u/U∞) over the top ranging from 1.2 to 1.5, while the bottom remains just below 1 for most of the chord length. For detailed data, the book "Theory of Wing Sections" by Abbott and Von Doenhoff is recommended, as it contains tabulated values for various airfoil shapes.

PREREQUISITES
  • Understanding of basic aerodynamics principles
  • Familiarity with aerofoil design and performance metrics
  • Knowledge of velocity ratios in fluid dynamics
  • Access to aerodynamics literature, such as "Theory of Wing Sections"
NEXT STEPS
  • Research the aerodynamic principles of lift generation in airfoils
  • Study the effects of different airfoil shapes on velocity distribution
  • Explore computational fluid dynamics (CFD) tools for simulating airfoil performance
  • Examine experimental methods for measuring air velocities around aerofoils
USEFUL FOR

Aerospace engineers, aerodynamics researchers, and students studying fluid dynamics will benefit from this discussion, particularly those interested in the performance characteristics of airfoils in flight.

Bill_Nye_Fan
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I want to know what values would be realistic for the air velocities both going over the top of an aerofoil and going underneath an aerofoil (that is, the velocity over the top of the wing should be greater than the velocity over the bottom by a reasonable amount). Also, the plane is traveling at a unchanging altitude and is moving at an average velocity of 250 m/s.

Sorry if this doesn't really make sense, I just really need to know. I will clarify any questions you may have about this. Thank you guys for your help.
 
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Do you have access to a library like at a university? If you check out the book Theory of Wing Sections by Abbott and Von Doenhoff it has that sort of data tabulated at the end in appendices for a number of different airfoil shapes.
 
I am sadly unable to get access to a library at the moment.

Also, I'm not really interested in the shape of the aerofoil currently. I'm looking more generalised values, but I would still like them to be realistic.

Anyway, thank you for your time nonetheless!
 
It really depends on the shape though. The value of ##u/U_{\infty}## over the top of an airfoil is going to be less than 2 and greater than 1. Usually it's going to peak in the range of 1.2 to 1.5 or so. On the bottom it is usually somewhere just below 1 for most of the chord length.
 

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