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Vortex Panel Method for a Lifting 2D Airfoil

UPDATED: 08/14/2022
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Panel Method Spreadsheet (Updated 5/11/2021)

This Excel workbook implements the vortex panel method for a 2D airfoil. The algorithm is from Kuethe and Chow, Foundations of Aerodynamics, 4th Edition, Wiley (1986). Detailed implementation instructions are provided in a separate pdf file. Inputs are coordinate data for the airfoil (from a source such as Abbott and von Doenhoff, Theory of Wing Sections, Dover (1959) or the UIUC airfoil database) and the angle of attack. This being an inviscid flow calculation, the flow will remain attached for any angle of attack. The calculation returns the pressure coefficient Cp as a function of position and a streamline plot. The user can determine the section lift coefficient etc., using these local results.

Vortex Panel Method for a 2D lifting airfoil. Shows: (a) airfoil profile (input), (b) computed pressure coefficient for top and bottom surfaces and (c) streamline plot for selected airfoil.  The stream function resulting from the computed distribution of vortices is evaluated on a grid of nearby points and a plot of streamlines is generated.  This animated GIF file cycles through a range of Angles of Attack in 10-degree increments.

 

 

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