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

First, someone highly recommended this text. I am not disappointed. In two parts, this book has a math beginning and abundant graphical summary of airfoil performance. Starting with Wing-Section characteristics, the forces on airfoils and their response to those forces are covered in 2D, 3D then fluid analysis. Symbols used in each chapter are identified prior to use. Theoretical treatment is a progression of the developing insight in symbolic approximation from the contributors to understanding aerospace engineering. Many of the equations are represented in graphs so one can grasp it quickly and then proceed with the math. Even then, the authors provide a quick precis for a perspective on defining solutions. Many times they seek the quick and simple, not simplistic, heads up approach while not flubbing on the math. So, while Theory of Wing Sections is not an introductory text, it is an excellent supplement or toolbox to deliver achievable options along with their performance and limitations. Many designers or engineers dig into the graphical data section to explore well tried airfoils as a prelude to computer firmware analysis which may not divulge the underlying methods a given design is based. This book takes the mystery out of the meat. To truly ferret through the fundamental concepts here, one should have a working knowledge of calculus prepared to use it. However, one can find use of this work studying the graphical wing section data noting the Reynold's numbers apply to full size aircraft. One starts here for UAV model scale aircraft, then digs deeper.

No complaints. All the information, plus more than expected.

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!

As far as I can tell, this is an excellent book. My problem is I am out of my depth making sense of it. I had thought it might be more accessible to my level of understanding. Nope. If you've got the math or engineering background it's probably excellent.

I've been using this book to design my own RC planes for several years now. It's chock full of all the classic NACA airfoils. The data and graphs are well laid out with consistent symbols and nomenclature though some graphs can be a bit crowded. Most of the fluid theory in the front of the book is better studied in modern textbooks like Anderson though I found the chapter on high lift devices quite helpful in my application. Since I'm designing small planes most of my work is below the Reynolds numbers of the plots but it's close enough for extrapolation. Although there are a multitude of wing sections in this awesome book there are only NACA sections which is only a sliver of whats out there. Overall, a bargain price for a great reference book!

I learned aeronautics to the Univ. of Tokyo about 50 years ago. I acquired almost all the theoretical contents of this book at that moment. This book helped me in recovering my deteriorated memory. The systematic research done by NACA had led the U.S.A. toward victory in the world war against Japanese air force for they lack such a huge amount of knowledge base to develop advanced aircraft.

Make sure you know what you're looking for, cause this book ain't for aerodynamics beginners. This is not an easy read. It's basically a breakdown of a lot of tests and why the wing sections work mathematically. This will save the right user a lot of time. If you're not an engineer this might not be the book or you.

I'm an aerospace student and bought this book for some complementary reading. I found it useful and informative. The airfoil section is a little dated and more modern airfoils are often better performers for certain applications but it is a good resource for NACA airfoils. Its great for becoming more familiar with drag polars and the effects that tripping the flow, high-lift devices, camber, thickness, etc all have on performance.

Excellent useful book with the information I needed in an accessible form.

This is a standard work on wing sections and as such can be heavy going. It is not light bedtime reading but is excellent for aeronautical engineers with the necessary mathematical competence.

This book is the bible for wing section theory and UK_BOOKSTORE delivered in perfect condition and on time. Would I use them again? Sure!

Abbot is one of the scholars guys that encourages other people to be like him, I think the complex theories about potential flow, finite span airfoil and wing, and many experimental data about almost a complete family of NACA series are the main focus of this book, I appreciate all those professors that made this field my passion

'E stato il mio primo acquisto con amazon e mi colpì che la spedizione gratuita fu di 1 giorno. Il libro è un super-classico dell'aerodinamica bidimensionale. Contiene oltre a varie teorie analitiche o semi-empiriche una grande appendice con i risultati delle prove in galleria di una buona parte dei profili NACA. Il prezzo amazon è come sempre competitivo. Per quelli del settore è necessario avere questa bibbia dell'aerodinamica.