I think the hardest thing about XFOIL is just having in mind the flow of what you want to do with it. I haven't used it, but many find it makes XFOIL a lot easier to use. There is a graphical user interface for XFOIL called Profili. But it's probably no worse than any of the other potential flow/integral boundary layer codes. me if you need help with your design.Ĭlick to expand.First of all, you should know that XFOIL tends to over-predict maximum lift. Being able to skip the software learning curve will make you save a lots of time, which can be dedicated to other aspects of wind-turbine design. It was created with XFOIL, so you can use that database for the choice of airfoils (which will be different along the rotor blade, from root to tip). You can also take a look at this catalogue of airfoils for wind turbines: In other words, you need to maximize airfoil efficiency (measured through L/D ratio), while taking into account other constraints (related to air compressibility, structural, aeroelastical, or aeroacustical issues, for example). It is true that you need a high lift, but you also need to minimize drag in order to achieve high overall efficiency of your rotor. You need to consider drag too - not only lift. It is not a good choice for wind turbines. That said, a NACA 0012 is a nice all-round airfoil for keels, rudders and other applications where a symmetric geometry is required. You could, for example take a look at this report to see what a process of design of a new airfoil for wind turbines looks like: It is a good software tool for a design of new airfoils, provided that you are able to correctly identify goals you want to achieve (lift, drag, moment coefficients at various reynolds number, control of transition and separation points along the chord). If you already have expeimental data and curves for NACA 0012 airfoil, then XFOIL will hardly give you more useful info, at your level of knowledge of aerodynamics.
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