Supercritical airfoil
Airfoil designed primarily to delay the onset of wave drag in the transonic speed range
Supercritical airfoil
A supercritical airfoil (supercritical aerofoil in British English) is an airfoil designed primarily to delay the onset of wave drag in the transonic speed range. Supercritical airfoils are characterized by their flattened upper surface, highly cambered ("downward-curved") aft section, and larger leading-edge radius compared with NACA 6-series laminar airfoil shapes. Standard wing shapes are designed to create lower pressure over the top of the wing. Both the thickness distribution and the camber of the wing determine how much the air accelerates around the wing. As the speed of the aircraft approaches the speed of sound, the air accelerating around the wing reaches Mach 1 and shockwaves begin to form. The formation of these shockwaves causes wave drag. Supercritical airfoils are designed to minimize this effect by flattening the upper surface of the wing. The origins of the supercritical airfoil can be traced back to the German aerodynamicist K. A. Kawalki, who designed a number of airfoils...
Read on Wikipedia · Image Olivier Cleynen, CC BY-SA 3.0
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