Customer Reviews

Theory of Wing Sections: Including a Summary of Airfoil Data (Dover Books on Aeronautical Engineering)

5 star:		(14)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I have worn out two copies of this in my professional days, and I am doing so again with my 'hobby' copy. It is much handier that the on-line references for NACA data and for doing the 'quick flip through' when thinking about design. It is not, however, for either the mathematicall un-initiated, nor for the first-time designer. The book is both thorough and rigorous in its treatment of the topics it covers. All in all, along with the other standard texts, it supplies the needed data ad information when thinking 'I wonder if that will work...'

Even if the book is old, it's the base of the airfoil understanding, because of the data included. Don't look for strange things here, just the classic stuff, but very complete.

This should be the first book on the shelf of any serious aircraft designer. The first half of the book is a review of classic airfoil theory, including all of the pertinent formulas. It is a bit dry and definitely not a textbook, but rather a comprehensive reference manual. Most people skip the text and buy the book for the second half, which is a compilation of all the basic NACA airfoils. Each airfoil shape is exactly described and includes graphs of performance data. This is a "must have" book for anyone who wants to design airfoils, whether they are the wings of an airplane, or the fins, rudders, etc. of a sailboat.

This book contains a historical review of the development of wing sections along with their mathematical basis and provides not only coordinates but performance data on many. Most of the source data for my shareware program came from this book.

This is a well written book that aircraft designers and those engaged in a serious study of wing aerodynamics will find useful, helpful and handy. This is not a book for the novice but for aeronautical engineering specialists who can handle fluid dynamics theory, performance and other mathematical manipulations. Although the book has been around for some time (I first used it at university as a recommended text in aerodynamics over 25 years ago), the theory and concepts are still very much relevant and applicable today.

For those seeking advanced knowledge on wing aerodynamics theory and have a flair for mathematics especially calculus, this is an excellent reference book that is well recommended.

I use this for my Aerodynamics courses (recomended by prof.). It is a great supplement to our book "Fundementals of Aerodynamics" by Anderson. Great buy for the price.

Before I begin my review, I want to let you know that this book was written BY Aeronautical Engineers, FOR Aeronautical Engineers. Other reviews have said this book is difficult to understand, but that's probably because they don't have the background to understand what this book is.

That said, I am an Aeronautical Engineer and I have thoroughly enjoyed reading and using this book. 'Theory of Wing Sections' is known throughout the Aerospace industry as the 'Airfoil Bible', and has been quite useful to me in writing wing analysis codes. In this book, you'll find all of the 'classical' airfoil theory; from basic thin airfoil theory to flow models and much more.

The best part of this book, however, is the extensive series of airfoil data tables in the back. You can literally find out anything you want about the NACA 4 and 5 digit series airfoils. Having all this data at your fingertips is an aerodynamicists dream. It saves us the trouble of calculating performance characteristics and also serves as a check for most kinds of wing analysis codes you write.

I highly recommend this book to any Aero Engineer or Aero student. You WON'T regret having it!

I bought this book mostly as a reference. As such, I have not worked through much of it. Mathematically, the authors hold nothing back from the theory of fluid dynamics--as such, it's not an easy book to work through, but doable with patience. But, it certainly appears to all be there, if/when you may need it.

This is a somewhat advanced reference text on wing aerodynamics and is definitely not for the beginner. It assumes the reader has a considerable knowledge of mathematics, including a great deal of calculus. On the other hand, if one can filter out some of the dry math and retain the important concepts, this is a book well worth having in your library.

The book got to me in perfect conditions. I ordered it overnight and, of course, it got to me the next day. The world of aerospace engineering is rapidly evolving towards the use of supercritical airfoils, but there are still very good things to take away from this book, full of NACA 64 and 65 series airfoils. Definitely a must.