Question

Consider a thin symmetric airfoil at a 2 degree angle of attack in a uniform flow at 50 m/s. The pitching moment coefficient about its leading edge is _________ (rounded off to three decimal places).

Hint:

For symmetric airfoils at small angles of attack, the pitching moment coefficient is approximately constant and can be taken from standard airfoil data for the given angle of attack.

Answer 1

Correct Answer: -0.057

The pitching moment coefficient \( C_m \) for a symmetric airfoil is given by:
\[ C_m = -0.057 \text{ (using standard results for a thin symmetric airfoil at 2 degrees of angle of attack)}. \]
Thus, the pitching moment coefficient about the leading edge is approximately \( -0.057 \).