XFOIL
| Written in | Fortran |
|---|---|
| License | GPL |
| Website | web |
XFOIL is an interactive program for the design and analysis of subsonic isolated airfoils. Given the coordinates specifying the shape of a 2D airfoil, Reynolds and Mach numbers, XFOIL can calculate the pressure distribution on the airfoil and hence lift and drag characteristics. The program also allows inverse design - it will vary an airfoil shape to achieve the desired parameters. It is released under the GNU GPL.
History
XFOIL was first developed by Mark Drela at MIT as a design tool for the MIT Daedalus project in the 1980s.[1] It was further developed in collaboration with Harold Youngren. The current version is 6.99, released in December 2013. Despite its vintage, it is still widely used.[2]
XFOIL is written in FORTRAN.
Similar software
- Xfoil for matlab is a port of the original XFOIL code to MATLAB.[3]
- mfoil is a MATLAB script that uses almost the same physical models as XFOIL, but is it not based on XFOIL. It also available as a Python script.[4]
- JavaFoil is an independent airfoil analysis software written in Java.[5]
- XFLR5 is an analysis tool for airfoils, wings and planes operating at low Reynolds Numbers, that has implemented XFOIL's Direct and Inverse analysis capabilities.[6]
- QBlade implements XFOIL via XFLR5 for use in wind turbine design.
- OpenVSP is a parametric aircraft geometry and aerodynamic analysis tool supported by NASA.
References
- ^ "MIT Aero-Astro Magazine - Mark Drela Profile".
- ^ "Aerodynamics and Aircraft Design Software". Archived from the original on June 8, 2010. Retrieved August 3, 2010.
- ^ "Xfoil for matlab". www.mathworks.com. 2023-08-06. Retrieved 2023-08-06.
- ^ Fidkowski, Krzysztof. "mfoil: Matlab (and Python) airfoil analysis code similar to XFOIL". www-personal.umich.edu. Retrieved 2023-08-06.
- ^ http://www.mh-aerotools.de/airfoils/javafoil.htm
- ^ "XFLR5". www.xflr5.tech. Retrieved 2023-08-06.
External links
- The XFOIL home page
- XFLR5
- xflrpy (XFLR5 fork with a Python binding)