Appendix G: The Configuration Aerodynamicist’s Bookshelf

Throughout the text, we’ve referenced many, many papers, reports, and books. Here is a short summary of the references that a configuration aerodynamicist should keep handy.

A basic aerodynamics book:

Bertin, J. J., and Cummings, R. M., Aerodynamics for Engineers, 6th. ed., Pearson Prentice Hall, 2014 (Note: The third edition, published in 1998, is by J. J. Bertin and M. L. Smith.)

Airfoils:

Abbott, I. H., and Von Doenhoff, A. E., Theory of Wing Sections, Dover, 1949.

See also the PDF file of Abbott, I. H., Von Doenhoff, A. E., and Stivers, L., Jr., “Summary of Airfoil Data,” NACA R-824, 1945. Although I had been told the book was the same as this NACA Report, it is not. They are very similar but highly complementary. Beware that the Dover book has numerous typos.

Harris, C. D., “NASA Supercritical Airfoils,” NASA TP-2969, Mar. 1990.

This report describes the Whitcomb airfoil work and the thinking and experience behind the design work. Watch out for the tables of airfoil coordinates. See my comments in appendix A.

General aerodynamic information:

Hoerner, S. F., Fluid-Dynamic Drag, published by the author, 1965. https://archive.org/details/FluidDynamicDragHoerner1965

Hoerner, S. F., and Borst, H. V., Fluid Dynamic Lift, published by Mrs. Lisselotte A. Hoerner, 1985. https://archive.org/details/FluidDynamicLiftHoerner1985

These books are well worth perusing as a great source of aerodynamic information and knowledge.

Essential thinking for transonic transport design:

Lynch, F. T., “Commercial Transports—Aerodynamic Design for Cruise Performance Efficiency,” Douglas Paper 7026, Feb. 1981. (Note: Also included as Chapter 2 in Transonic Aerodynamics, edited by D. Nixon, Progress in Astronautics & Aeronautics, Vol. 81, 1982, pp. 81–147. https://doi.org/10.2514/5.9781600865558.0081.0147)

See also Shevell’s Aerodynamic Bugs paper (https://doi.org/10.2514/6.1985-4067) listed in appendix F. Read for the design philosophy and thinking.

Best recent surveys of high lift:

Van Dam, C. P., “The aerodynamic design of multi-element high-lift systems for transport airplanes,” Progress in Aerospace Sciences, Vol. 38, pp. 101–144, 2002. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0376-0421(02)00002-7

Rudolph, P. K. C., “High-Lift Systems on Commercial Subsonic Airliners,” NASA CR-4746, Sept. 1996.

These references examine the high-lift systems used on transonic transports.

High-alpha aerodynamics:

Chambers, J. R., and Grafton, S. B., “Aerodynamics of Airplanes at High Angles of Attack,” NASA TM-74097, Dec. 1977.

Invaluable lessons related to configuration stability and control issues:

Abzug, M. J., and Larrabee, E. E., Airplane Stability and Control: A History of the Technologies that Made Aviation Possible, Cambridge University Press, 1997. https://search.worldcat.org/title/34513500

For computational considerations:

Cummings, R. M., Mason, W. H., Morton, S., A., and McDaniel, D. R., Applied Computational Aerodynamics: A Modern Engineering Approach, Cambridge University Press, New York, NY, 2015. https://search.worldcat.org/title/881146298

Quick estimation methods:

Most aerodynamics textbooks aren’t aimed at providing handbook-type methods to use in aerodynamic configuration development. There are several reasons that handbook-oriented collections of aerodynamic methods are useful. First, they almost always identify the key parameters that contribute to the estimate and generally show the functional form. Second, you can take a shortcut by making a big calculation to get a quick estimate, and finally, they can provide a sanity check for your calculated estimates. In this section, we list a few handy resources:

Brandt, S. A., Post, M. L., Hall, D., Gilliam, F., Jung, T., and Yechout, T., “The Value of Semi-Empirical Analysis Methods in Aircraft Design,” AIAA Paper 2015-2486, 16th AIAA/ISSMO Multidisciplinary Analysis and Optimization Conference, Dallas, TX, Jun. 22-26, 2015. (Note: A good recent collection.)

The next set of reports, from the US Air Force, are available for free download:

The mother of all handbook methods is DATCOM (short for “data compendium”). This was originally a multi-volume paper handbook with an emphasis on stability and control. It was eventually replaced with a computer program, the so-called Digital DATCOM. I suggest using the original paper version (https://search.worldcat.org/title/605998083) or print. It gives more insight into the methods and has numerous references supporting the methods. In particular, many references are to reports of wind tunnel tests. There is also a Missile DATCOM. The handbook is formally called USAF Stability and Control DATCOM. There are at least two versions available in electronic form. They are the 1965 and 1978 revisions.

Schemesky, R. T., and Howell, G., “Aerodynamic Accounting Technique for Determining Effects of Nuclear Damage to Aircraft, – Volume I – Empirical Methods,” DNA 4531F-1, Feb. 1978. https://apps.dtic.mil/sti/tr/pdf/ADA064134.pdf

DNA stands for Defense Nuclear Agency. This is the basic General Dynamics Fort Worth Division aero methods code with blast damage added. It describes the basic aerodynamic estimation methods as well as damaged aircraft methods, including illustration of the accuracy for the F-16, the FB-111, and a number of NASA models. The basic program is described in “Development of an Empirically Based Computer Program to Predict the Aerodynamic Characteristics of Aircraft, Vol. I, Empirical Methods,” AFFDL TR-73-144, 1973. (Note: Also available on the web for download: https://apps.dtic.mil/sti/pdfs/AD0780100.pdf.)

Jobe, C. E., “Prediction of Aerodynamic Drag,” AFWAL TM-84-203, July 1984. https://apps.dtic.mil/sti/pdfs/ADA326842.pdf

This report formed the basis for Chuck Jobe’s chapter in the AIAA book, Thrust and Drag (https://search.worldcat.org/title/922978774). Again, this is a good practical summation of methods.

Sieron, T. R., Fields, D., Baldwin, A. W., and Adamczak, D. W., “Procedures and Design Data for the Formulation of Aircraft Configurations,” WL-TR-93- 3068, Aug. 1993. https://apps.dtic.mil/sti/citations/ADA270150

This report includes lots of data from existing aircraft and includes supersonic cases. The title is a little misleading, as it’s actually an aerodynamics report.

Next, several aircraft design textbooks have excellent collections of aerodynamic methods:

Nicolai, L. M., and Carichner, G. E., Fundamentals of Aircraft and Airship Design, Volume I – Aircraft Design, AIAA, Reston, VA, 2010. https://arc.aiaa.org/doi/book/10.2514/4.867538

This book contains a wealth of aerodynamics methods and data. There is also a second volume covering airships and including case studies.

Raymer, D. P., Aircraft Design: A Conceptual Approach, AIAA, Reston, 2018 (https://search.worldcat.org/title/1048659355); 2024 (https://search.worldcat.org/title/1492940499)

Dan shares lots of info and explanations of aerodynamic configuration issues and geometry.

Torenbeek, E., Synthesis of Subsonic Airplane Design, Delft University Press, 1982. (Note: Now available for free electronically at https://resolver.tudelft.nl/229f2817-9be9-49b6-959a-d653b5bac054)

Although the book covers many aircraft design topics, it has a very good collection of aerodynamics material, including many references. As the title suggests, the emphasis is on subsonic transport aircraft. He also wrote a second book, Advanced Aircraft Design (https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/book/10.1002/9781118568101), which covers modern design procedures and configuration studies.

Jan Roskam has written numerous books with aerodynamic methods and configuration information. These include the eight-volume Airplane Design series, an Aerodynamics and Performance book, and a Flight Dynamics and Automated Flight Controls book. All of these are available through DARCorporation: https://shop.darcorp.com/index.php?route=product/category&path=85_60.

From a quick methods perspective, Roskam compiled two relatively short paperback books: Methods for Estimating Drag Polars of Subsonic Airplanes (https://search.worldcat.org/title/201953) and Methods for Estimating Stability and Control Derivatives of Conventional Subsonic Airplanes (https://search.worldcat.org/title/200202), both initially printed in 1971. These are quite handy and were largely compiled from DATCOM.

When using estimates from these sources, remember to be sure to compare the estimates with existing data before using them for your project of interest. Sometimes the methods aren’t very accurate (if they were really good, we wouldn’t need CFD!). But it is also possible you don’t understand exactly how they are supposed to be used.

Performance methods:

Doing configuration aerodynamics frequently requires performance estimates. The aircraft design books include this information. Books I use for performance include:

Shevell, R. S., Fundamentals of Flight, 2nd ed., Prentice-Hall, 1989. https://search.worldcat.org/title/17678498

This book contains a couple of good chapters on performance, especially for transonic transports.

Roskam, J., and Lan, C.-T. E., Airplane Aerodynamics and Performance, DARcorporation, Kansas, 1997; revised 2016. https://search.worldcat.org/title/38463817

This includes detailed procedures for computing performance, emphasizing general aviation and the FAR requirements associated with performance. The book also includes details on propellers, a topic that has become much more important with the widespread emphasis on drones.

Takahasi, T., Aircraft Performance and Sizing, Volume I: Fundamentals of Aircraft Performance, Momentum Press, 2016. https://search.worldcat.org/title/945097483

This book covers a lot of extremely useful practical aspects of operating an airplane. Tim primarily covers commercial transports. There is also a second volume, Applied Aerodynamic Design (https://search.worldcat.org/title/945180130). The second volume could be considered an aircraft design book, but it also covers field performance and issues with stability and control.

So far, I haven’t seen good text material for the emerging electric and electric-hybrid airplane propulsion systems. Check the latest edition of Brandt (https://search.worldcat.org/title/910239571), as he said he would be including it.

Another good source of aerodynamic reference material is the website by Brenda Kulfan, http://www.brendakulfan.com [stable link]. Many of her reports and papers are collected here, and most can be downloaded. Her work is notable for its insight and the superior figures and illustrations.

Note: I was hoping to make this a one-page summary. I ran over!