To help us discuss airfoil shapes, figure 3.12 illustrates some useful terminology.
Two design factors, airfoil shape and airfoil area are primary elements that determine how much lift and drag a blade will produce. Any change in these design factors will affect the forces produced.
Freezing rain and drizzle are the ultimate enemy that can drastically roughen large surface areas or distort airfoil shapes and make flight extremely dangerous or impossible in a matter of a few minutes.
A special shape of the airfoil: The pressure distribution on the airfoil is related to the airfoil shape. Today we can calculate (with high speed computers) airfoils which maximize the length of the laminar boundary layer.
If you choose Shape/Angle, you can select a classic airfoil shape, an ellipse, or a thin plate cross section by using the choice box. You can change the camber, thickness, or the angle of attack of the cross section.
To minimize the parasite drag it is desired to design in airfoil shape all aircraft parts such as struts, wheel fairing, etc. The two major contributors to parasite drag are the form drag and the skin-friction drag.
In 1921 pioneering aviator and aircraft designer Vincent Justus Burnelli patented the simple concept of an airfoil shaped airframe to increase the lift and load capacity of aircraft.
An airfoil is the cross section of a wing. The airfoil shape and variations in angle of
attack are primarily responsible for the lift and profile drag of the wing.
Related Definitions from Aviation Glossary ...
An assembly of radially disposed blades with an airfoil shape that when rotated in air produce thrust. more......
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The airfoil shape is fixed for a given blade. The only remaining variables are changes in blade angle of attack and blade airspeed. These two variables must compensate for each other during forward flight to overcome dissymmetry of lift.
 See also: Airfoil, Lift, Speed, Aircraft, Section
  
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