Natural-Laminar-Flow Airfoil Development for a Lightweight Business Jet

A 15% thick, natural-laminar-flow airfoil, the SHM-1 , has been designed to satisfy requirements derived from the performance specifications for alightweight business jet. The airfoil was tested in a low-speed wind tunnel to evaluate itslow-speed performance.A fight test was also conductedto evaluate the performance of the airfoilat high Reynolds numbers and high Mach numbers. In addition, a transonic wind-tunneltest was conducted to determine the drag-divergence characteristics. The design requirements, methodology, and experimental verication are described.