r/aerodynamics • • 24d ago

Tools/Resources AeroLab: A free browser-based airfoil analysis and virtual wind tunnel

3 Upvotes

I’ve been working on AeroLab, a free browser-based airfoil analysis tool that I’ve been developing independently, and it’s now live.

The original motivation was pretty simple: I kept running into airfoil coordinate files that looked perfectly reasonable to a human but caused XFOIL to fail because of formatting, ordering, duplicate points, coordinate conventions, etc.

So I built AeroLab around a preprocessing pipeline that automatically detects and repairs these issues before passing the geometry to XFOIL.

Some of the capabilities currently built into it:

  • Automated airfoil coordinate parsing and preprocessing
  • Selig / Lednicer format handling
  • Duplicate leading-edge point detection
  • Coordinate ordering / winding correction
  • Invalid-coordinate and formatting cleanup
  • XFOIL viscous and inviscid analysis
  • Reynolds number and Ncrit configuration
  • Angle-of-attack analysis and sweeps
  • Boundary-layer data export
  • Interactive airfoil comparison
  • Pressure coefficient and aerodynamic coefficient plots
  • Real-time GPU-accelerated D2Q9 Lattice Boltzmann Method (LBM) virtual wind tunnel
  • Interactive velocity, pressure and vorticity visualization
  • Stall/flow visualization
  • PNG and data export

One of the things I particularly wanted was to make the whole workflow accessible without requiring users to install XFOIL or set up a local analysis environment.

I also benchmarked the preprocessing pipeline on 1,000 real-world airfoil coordinate files. At Re = 200,000 and α = 5°, the raw files had an XFOIL convergence rate of 22.5%, compared with 85.7% after preprocessing, with 633 additional files successfully analyzed.

The LBM wind tunnel is a separate part of the project. It isn't intended to replace CFD but meant to provide a lightweight, interactive way to visualize flow behavior around an airfoil while still being useful for teaching and preliminary exploration.

AeroLab is completely free and browser-based, so there’s no installation or paid software license required.

I’m still actively developing it, and I'm particularly interested in feedback from people who use XFOIL, airfoil tools, or aerodynamic analysis in research/teaching.

AeroLab: http://aerolab-app.onrender.com/

Would love to hear what you think!


r/aerodynamics • • 13d ago

Who are you?

1 Upvotes

Hello all,
After many years of not being very active in the subreddit, I would like now to bring something new and grow the community. First, I would like to get to know you more. So take a vote and if you feel like write something about you in the comment section. Cheers Aeros!

144 votes, 6d ago
29 Engineer in Aerodynamics
38 Engineer in other disciplines
37 University student or researcher
10 High school student
30 Aerodynamics Enthusiast

r/aerodynamics • • 9h ago

Question I need help to understand how to mesh for Ansys Fluent

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1 Upvotes

r/aerodynamics • • 10h ago

Question can soomeone help me with the aero of this chassis?

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0 Upvotes

straight line race (stem racing) i want just a quick check up from some of you before going in the simulation about the chassis. someone have some ideas to make it better? thanks in advance


r/aerodynamics • • 1d ago

Question Southampton vs Cranfield for Aerospace (Aerodynamics)

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1 Upvotes

r/aerodynamics • • 2d ago

Question Downforce Science Fair project

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1 Upvotes

r/aerodynamics • • 2d ago

Request I need to learn aerodynamics, any good materials reccomendations?

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0 Upvotes

r/aerodynamics • • 2d ago

Moteur à distorsion d'espace temp

0 Upvotes

Bonjour, est ce que quelqu'un pourrait m'expliquer comment (et si c'est le cas) un moteur à distorsion d'espace temps pourrait théoriquement aller à des vitesses hypersoniques sans produire de sonic boom?


r/aerodynamics • • 3d ago

Question I am making a UAV for a senior project that has a large operating regime. The RFP states it needs 35mph stall speed at 8000 ft and cruise at 150mph at 15000 ft. Mt cruise C_L is about 0.15-0.3. What is a good airfoil for this?

0 Upvotes

Title. The reynolds # should be from 250K-1.3M (estimate). I plan to have fowler flaps for increased clmax at stall. I can't find a good compromise that performs well in stall (Laminar seperation bubbles at low RE, good Cl) and cruise (low Cd at cruise cl). Any help is greatly appreciated!


r/aerodynamics • • 7d ago

Question Canard controlled rocket and roll reversal

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2 Upvotes

r/aerodynamics • • 8d ago

Drag coefficient of an elliptical parachute?

5 Upvotes

Hey everyone I'm working on a supersonic rocket with an apogee of around 10 km, and I'm trying to determine the drag coefficient of our elliptical parachute for OpenRocket simulations. What value would you recommend, and are there any reliable sources or experimental studies we could refer to? Also I want to know what are the essential essais and tests I should do with the parachute (except deployement and shock)? And my last question is in a Rocketry competition report what do I have to focus on and what the juries will also focus on?


r/aerodynamics • • 9d ago

Question Where to find aerodynamic sim videos?

1 Upvotes

I’m looking for aerodynamic CFD vids, mainly on cool or unusual objects, animals, vehicles etc aha!

Does anyone have any favourites? Or any links or suggestions where to find them!

Thanks for your help :)


r/aerodynamics • • 10d ago

Question What Are The Ideal Wind Tunnel Dimensions?

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9 Upvotes

Could anyone guide me on the ideal sizes of my wind tunnel’s sections? It’s already 7ft after making compromises and being conservative. I plan to use it to test a custom wind 1:10 rc car. I’ve been getting most of these messages through Claude so it really feels like I don’t know what I’m doing.


r/aerodynamics • • 10d ago

Research What is the relationship between angle of attack and lift force, and how does this relationship change near the stall point?

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0 Upvotes

r/aerodynamics • • 10d ago

perfect race car aerodynamics ?(The image just gives an idea of ​​the thing.)

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16 Upvotes

I've been working on this race car concept for a while and I'm mainly interested in the aerodynamic side of it.

The idea is to keep the very reduce wind turbulence, teardrop-shaped upper body of the Volkswagen XL1, but combine it with extreme race-car aero: large Venturi tunnels, active floor, huge diffuser, massive rear wing, front splitter, active aero and even two rear fans inspired by the Chaparral 2J.

I'm wondering how far something like this could realistically be pushed. Would the XL1-style body actually help with airflow, or would the extreme downforce devices completely defeat the purpose? Where would the biggest aerodynamic problems appear, especially with ride height, pitch, yaw and aero balance?

I'm mostly looking for people who understand this stuff to tell me where the concept makes sense and where I've completely fucked up the physics. The drawings are just a rough representation of the idea.

(I used a translation tool for this because I don't speak English, so some points might be off. The key points I want to highlight are that the car isn't designed for maximum aerodynamic efficiency or low drag; instead, the goal is extreme aerodynamic stability, achieved through the teardrop shape of the XL1 Sport Concept. This shape keeps the car stable at speed and helps manage airflow to generate active downforce—specifically at high speeds on straightaways. It’s a damn fast car, but it also handles corners incredibly well. Sorry about the phrasing.)


r/aerodynamics • • 11d ago

Any suggestions for the topic of my bachelor thesis?

0 Upvotes

Simulation suggestions

Hi, I'm gonna be writing my bachelor thesis on the topic of CFD in OpenFoam. The practical part should be focused on a flow around some part of an aircraft (jet). However I'm still thinking about which part should it be. That's why I'm writing here for inspiration, so if anyone has any ideas... :D. It could literally be anything, for example one idea I had was how the frosting affects flow around wings in cold weather


r/aerodynamics • • 12d ago

Educational MIT Archive: Fluid mechanics lectures

29 Upvotes

I highly reccomend these set of video lectures produced decades ago from various academic institutions. They are old but very well made. I remember studying these as part of university courses and really enjoyed them.

Here is the playlist: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLfF--3o8i4r82vJ0kjCVYgqKgyVM5QwN0&si=bR3oI2ubVOyPVuqn


r/aerodynamics • • 14d ago

Alula - Multi-element and transonic airfoil solver inspired by MSES

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22 Upvotes

r/aerodynamics • • 14d ago

Learning rally car aerodynamics looking for honest feedback on my Audi Quattro S1 writing

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7 Upvotes

Hi everyone!

I'm fairly new to this community, so I hope I'm posting this in the right place.

I've recently started learning about the aerodynamics of rally cars and, at the same time, writing about what I learn. My latest piece is an analysis of the Audi Quattro S1's aerodynamic development, particularly its rear wing and how the changes between the different evolutions affected the car.

I'm sharing it here because I've mostly received feedback from one reader so far, and I'd really like to hear from people who actually know rallying, motorsport engineering, or aerodynamics.

I'm not looking for subscriptions or promotion!!

I'm genuinely trying to figure out whether my reasoning is sound and where I might be misunderstanding something.

So if you read it, I'd really appreciate honest feedback such as:

- Did I explain the aerodynamic concepts correctly?
- Is there anything technically questionable or oversimplified?
- Did I miss something important about the S1's aero development?
- Is there anything that doesn't make sense from a rallying perspective?

simply: was it interesting and understandable, or did parts feel unnecessary/confusing?

The article is "Rally Racing: Audi Quattro S1 — An Aerodynamic Breakthrough", available on Medium/Substack.

Thanks in advance!


r/aerodynamics • • 14d ago

Will the exhaust air be recycled, or not?

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2 Upvotes

r/aerodynamics • • 14d ago

Why do Airplanes Fly?

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12 Upvotes

r/aerodynamics • • 15d ago

Article How Exactly Does the NOTAR System Work? ‣ Pilots Who Ask Why

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2 Upvotes

r/aerodynamics • • 15d ago

Question Help with Low Speed Wind Tunnel Force and Pressure Measuring Ideas and Feasibility Spoiler

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2 Upvotes

r/aerodynamics • • 15d ago

Debate between F1 cars and fighter jets

0 Upvotes

I had a hour long debate yesterday with my friends on what is more aerodynamically efficient between f1 cars and fighter jets.

My opinion was that based strictly off of aerodynamics and using it to achieve the intended purpose for each vehicle (minimising drag and increasing agility for fighter jets, and creating downforce for f1 cars), f1 cars do it better.

What do you guys think?


r/aerodynamics • • 16d ago

Question What are the advantages of grid fins?

21 Upvotes

I'm curious. What are the advantages of grid fins used on rockets and missiles like the Falcon 9 and Starship? Why not use a normal fully sealed, flat surface fin and rotate that on an axis. I understand the design is to save weight and improve movability at high angles of attack, but doesn't that in turn make it less effective? Could you not just shorten a normal flat fins? I feel like I'm missing something