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How does airfoil curvature result in low pressure on top

Asked by: 1886 views Aerodynamics

Most sources I’ve seen simply state that the shape of the airfoil causes the air to speed up on top, which causes lower pressure due to the Bernoulli effect. There is no elaboration on why exactly the air speeds up.

I then found a different source that said the traditional explanation is backwards. The shape of the airfoil deflects the air away from the airfoil, which means less air molecules close to the upper surface, forming a low pressure pocket. It is then the low pressure pocket that results in the higher speed, because air flows from high to low.

Combining these two explanations, is it correct to say that initially there is low pressure due to the re-direction of air, and then there is a corresponding increase in speed which elongates the area of low pressure?

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1 Answers



  1. Gary Moore on Jul 17, 2020

    There certainly is a lot of different explanations for lift in our community. Though it’s a bit dense – the best source I know of is The text – Aerodynamics for Navel Aviators (also a FAA reference text). You can find a PDF here.

    https://www.faa.gov/regulations_policies/handbooks_manuals/aviation/media/00-80T-80.pdf

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