This page contains links to several programs developed over the past 10 years. They are being made available for non-commercial (hobby) use in the hopes they may be useful to others.
- POLAR: A Visual Basic 6.0 program that calculates sailplane performance based on airfoil and planform data. Source and compiled code are available. PDF files are available which discuss the derivation of the formulation, program operation and capabilities. A limited airfoil database is also available. Airfoil data is derived from the UIUC reports (Prof Michael Selig's group) published by Herk Stokeley. Refer to the UIUC web site for further details of their low speed airfoil research. Some airfoil data has been derived from X-Foil (Prof Mark Drela's fluid dynamics code). Sailplane planform files can be saved for later recovery. Output can be written to a tab delimited file for further analysis in spreadsheet programs.
- AIRFOIL: A Visual Basic 6.0 program that calculates and plots airfoil templates for foam cutting. Single and double templates are available. All template parameters can be adjusted (Entry/exit type, LE and TE land length, skin thickness, TE thickness, Washout and pivot point). Camber and thickness for an existing airfoil can be adjusted and saved. A limited airfoil editor is available. Some airfoil parameters are calculated using classical thin section theory (no Re effects). The airfoil coordinate input routine is fairly robust and reads most data formats. This routine also compensates for rotation of the airfoil centerline to re-establish a zero degree reference from LE to TE if needed.
- ELLIPSE: An Excel spreadsheet (Office XP format) that performs a least-squares fit to a Schuemann-Ellipse wing planform for double, triple and quad taper wings. Wing twist can be entered for each panel. This fit is geometric only and may be used 'as-is' or as input to John Hazel's LIFT-ROLL spreadsheet. (This program not yet uploaded - 3/7/05)
