Experimental correlation of forced convection heat transfer from a NACA airfoil

The results of an experimental investigation of the heat transfer coefficients for forced convection from a NACA-63421 airfoil are presented. Wind tunnel measurements of convection coefficients are obtained for air flow temperatures from −30 to 20 °C. The experimental data is correlated with respect to the Nusselt and Reynolds numbers. Conduction within the airfoil balances heat transfer by convection from the airfoil surface in steady-state conditions. Both average and spatial variations of the heat transfer coefficients are non-dimensionalized through modifications of a classical Hilpert correlation for cylinders in crossflow. It is shown that the functional form of the Hilpert correlation can effectively accommodate measured data for the NACA airfoil over a range of Reynolds numbers. An uncertainty analysis is performed to yield a 7.34% measurement uncertainty for experimental data correlated with the Nusselt number.