Newsgroups: sci.aeronautics
From: David Lednicer <dave@amiwest.com>
Subject: Re: 747-400
Date: Sat, 4 Oct 1997 15:24:09 GMT

Julian Wasserman wrote:
>
> Is there an airfoil type variation along the wing span of the 747-400?
> I exclude the winglets,flaps etc.  If so,what are the closest "classic"
> airfoils, say in NACA nomenclature?  Is the variation smooth or just
> several forms with some sort of interpolation between forms.

	The geometry of the 747 is proprietary to Boeing and is not shared with
the general public.  However, Boeing many years ago did make the
geometry of the 747-200 available as a CFD testcase.  The wing airfoils
are correct, but the wing twist and deflection is for a 3G loading
condition, not 1G, as would be seen in cruise flight.  The airfoils are
far removed from any "classic" airfoil, so forget trying to find a NACA
airfoil that is close.

	All airliner wings are composed of multiple airfoils, usually combined
in a splined surface.  The basic DC-8 wing has only three airfoils, but
most other airliner wings are built up off of more airfoils than this.

	The 707-120 wing has NACA 60-series thickness forms on modified 5-digit
camberlines.  These airfoils are available at the UIUC airfoil database:

	opus.aae.uiuc.edu/~selig/ads.html

Every Boeing wing since then has had custom airfoils.  If you dig deep
enough, the 737 wing appears in a NASA report and what I think is an
airfoil from the 767 wing appears in another NASA report.  I have yet to
find any information on the 707-320, 727, 757 or 777 wing in a public
source.

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David Lednicer             | "Applied Computational Fluid Dynamics"
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