Camber Variation and Cruise Efficiency for NACA X412 Aerofoils: A Conceptual Study in Aerofoil Curvature

An aerofoil (British English) or airfoil (American English) refers to a cross-sectional structure in which its curvature provides the most favorable ratio between the coefficient of lift (C L ) and drag (C D ).In this particular study, the NACA X412 aerofoil will be used as its base model with the percent camber being the main variation, not just limited to 2% camber (NACA 2412).This paper will not discuss the relation of the distance of the maximum camber or the maximum thickness of the aerofoil as a percentage.The fundamental study will be based on the curvature of the aerofoil and how different percent camber impacts the cruise efficiency with respect to the ratio between the coefficient of lift (C L ) and drag (C D ).AoA () will also be considered throughout the process as its predominant contribution to the aerodynamics of an aerofoil.The results based on the study are arrived at which the optimum percent camber for a level cruise is at 2%.As the research pertains to examining the optimum percent camber, the 6% camber aerofoil also achieved a maximum C L /C D , requiring a typical AoA () for cruise conditions.This idea will remain to be further discussed in Results and Discussion, and Conclusion.