I recently got the polar curve of an aircraft with the method of Anderson. But this method is too old.
Does someone know a recent method for the polar curve without using CFD?
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2$\begingroup$ Did you try Makino-san's method? If you want more precision, you need to invest a lot more work, and the best methods are not necessarily the newest ones. $\endgroup$ – Peter Kämpf Apr 7 '15 at 20:32
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4$\begingroup$ What do you mean, "too old?" Last I checked, algorithms aren't exactly perishable. $\endgroup$ – cpast Apr 7 '15 at 22:32
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$\begingroup$ Really? How about Newton? $\endgroup$ – rbp Apr 9 '15 at 22:46
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Here are some other methods (excluding CFD and computational ones) for building up a polar curve:
- Wind tunnel testing, one of the earliest methods, still one of the most applied and explored one.
- Flight testing ("dynamically scaled" model or a 1:1 real prototype)
- Empirical methods (e.g. Hoerner's books on "Lift" and "Drag")
- Reverse calculations; i.e. if the performance charts AND the engine deck (force model) is published or known, then the flight performance chapter of the aircraft operations manual could be used, at least to a certain confidence level, to guess about the polar curve for different configurations and conditions.
- If you know a few speeds of best endurance/best range glide, you could get an idea of the CL/CD at those speeds, and if you know the mass of the aircraft, the polar curve can be plotted.
- Asking the manufacturer certainly could help (if not a model of commercial competition)
