EVALUATING THE IMPACT OF SUPERCRITICAL AND SYMMETRICAL AIRFOIL OPTIMIZATION ON TRANSONIC AERODYNAMIC EFFICIENCY
Keywords:
Transonic Aerodynamics, Airfoil Optimization, Supercritical Airfoil, NACA 0012, Drag Divergence Mach Number, Shock-Wave Control, Computational Fluid DynamicsAbstract
The transonic flight regime, which ranges between Mach 0.8 and 1.2, introduces significant aerodynamic hurdles due to shock-wave formation, rapid increase in drag, and boundary layer flow separation. Consequently, airfoil optimization has become a vital area of research. Despite the vast amount of literature on both symmetrical and supercritical airfoils, there is little research focusing on comparing the extent to which optimization enhances the aerodynamic performance of both geometries in transonic conditions. This research aims to address this gap by evaluating the research question: To what extent does the optimization of supercritical and symmetrical airfoils improve aerodynamic efficiency in the transonic flight regime?
This study uses a secondary data analysis method to evaluate published Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) investigations, NASA technical studies, and peer-reviewed aerospace research related to transonic airfoil optimization. The sources were analysed using a comparative, thematic analysis to examine trends in aerodynamic performance.
The findings reveal that optimization significantly improves aerodynamic efficiency for both symmetrical and supercritical airfoils. The drag coefficient decreased by approximately 39.5% for the optimized NACA 0012 symmetrical airfoil. Meanwhile, the optimized supercritical airfoil demonstrated an absolute increase of 0.12 in drag divergence Mach number, from 0.67 to 0.79, representing a relative improvement of approximately 18%. Across the evaluated literature, these performance gains were consistently associated with adjustments to wing cross-section design that improved pressure recovery and managed shock-wave behaviour.
These findings suggest that airfoil optimization serves as a reliable method for boosting aerodynamic performance in transonic flight. This study contributes to the existing literature by combining data from both symmetrical and supercritical optimization studies, highlighting the critical role of shock-wave control in future transonic airfoil geometries.
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