Can you please tell me what is the airfoil in the 2M-Chrysalis?

From : Don Stackhouse

Boy, if I had a nickel for every time somebody asked me a question like that...

Well, I can, but it won't help you much. There are actually three different baseline airfoils (mostly from the DS6082 family) with non-linear blending of both camber and thickness in between them. They are proprietary sections I designed, and sorry, we don't give out the coordinates. BTW, "DS6082" is my own designator, and the number does not indicate anything about the aerodynamic or geometric characteristics of that family of sections (actually it has mostly to do with the date I developed the baseline section in the family).

When I design a wing, I start with a very rough study of airfoils in that set of operating conditions just to get a feel for what's reasonable, then I do the rest of the wing design. I look at the whole operating envelope, including the effects of unequal airspeeds along the span in turns, Reynolds numbers and lift coefficients along the span in both straight and turning flight over the range of flight conditions, and end up with a map of the required lift characteristics over the entire operating envelope at each location along the span. The requirements will vary depending on the flight condition, the needs of the root will be different than the mid-span and tip locations, and the needs of the inboard wing will be different than that of the outboard wing in a turn.

All of that is then the basis for a series of custom airfoils along the span (usually from the same or similar families so their flow characteristics are compatible with each other), where each local airfoil is optimized for the needs of that part of the wing over the plane's operating envelope, as well as handling concerns, such as stall characteristics in straight and turning flight.

Thus, the last thing to be defined in one of my wing designs are the airfoils (note the plural) along the span. The other point that should be obvious is that those particular individual sections are optimized for those locations on that wing. Trying to measure them and then copy them in a different wing with inevitably different requirements is a risky approach at best.

So, you still don't have the airfoil sections for the Chrysalis 2-meter, but you probably know more now about wing design than you ever wanted to!

Don Stackhouse
DJ Aerotech