Anderson-98101 book November 4, 2009 21:42

CHAPTER 1 Aerodynamics: Some Introductory Thoughts 25

The particular choice of reference area and length is not critical; however, when
using force and moment coefficient data, you must always know what reference
quantities the particular data are based upon.
The symbols in capital letters listed above (i.e., C L , C D , C M , and C A ) denote
the force and moment coefficients for a complete three-dimensional body such
as an airplane or a finite wing. In contrast, for a two-dimensional body, such as
given in Figures 1.18 and 1.19, the forces and moments are per unit span. For these
two-dimensional bodies, it is conventional to denote the aerodynamic coefficients
by lowercase letters; for example,
L D M
cl ≡ cd ≡ cm ≡
q∞ c q∞ c q∞ c 2
where the reference area S = c(1) = c.
Two additional dimensionless quantities of immediate use are
p − p∞
Pressure coefficient: Cp ≡
q∞
τ
Skin friction coefficient: cf ≡
q∞
where p∞ is the freestream pressure.
The most useful forms of Equations (1.7), (1.8), and (1.11) are in terms of
the dimensionless coefficients introduced above. From the geometry shown in
Figure 1.22,
d x = ds cos θ (1.12)
dy = −(ds sin θ ) (1.13)
S = c(1) (1.14)
Substituting Equations (1.12) and (1.13) into Equations (1.7), (1.8), and (1.11),
dividing by q∞ , and further dividing by S in the form of Equation (1.14), we

Figure 1.22 Geometrical relationship of

differential lengths.