Airfoil Introduction

An airfoil is a body designed to produce asymmetrical forces when moving through a fluid. Airfoils are a common subject of metrology and engineering analysis in the aerospace and aerospace propulsion industries.

The engeom library has tools for airfoil analysis centered around the 2D cross-sections of airfoil bodies. This is a function of the aerospace industry's historical use of 2D drawings to specify airfoil dimensional requirements and performance characteristics.

Airfoil analysis is a complicated subject with a lot of specialized tools and terminology based on convention and historical precedent. There aren't typically one-size-fits-all algorithms and methods because of the extreme variation in airfoil shapes and requirements. Different institutions and organizations even within the same industry will often have their own preferred methods, tools, and sometimes even terminology.