Transonic airfoil design procedure utilizing a Navier-Stokes analysis code

An iterative procedure for transonic airfoil design utilizing a Navier-Stokes analysis code to attain arbitrarily specified pressure distributions is presented. The concept of the present design procedure depends on the fact that an inverse design method of the residual-correction type can be combined both with a Navier-Stokes analysis code for a wide range of flow regimes and with conventional full potential analysis codes. The logical validity of the concept is presented and numerical examples of supercritical and low-speed designs are presented. Since the Navier-Stokes code is used in the analysis mode of the procedure, shock wave and viscous effects (including trailing-edge separation), which are difficult to evaluate with the conventional potential design methods, are properly evaluated and effectively incorporated in the design procedure.