Airfoil lift and drag coefficients

The shape of a moving object determines its drag coefficient, Cd.

The drag coefficient combined with velocity and area of the
moving object determine the drag force.

  Fd = 1/2 * Cd * density * area * velocity^2

A few shapes and their respective drag coefficients are:




A symetric NACA 0015 airfoil at zero degrees angle of attack


A symetric NACA 0015 airfoil at 22 degrees angle of attack


Angle of attack shown in two degree increments


Wind tunnel measured data coefficient of lift and drag


Full set of wind tunnel data and full report
NACA-460 1933 78 airfoils 


Source code for computations and plots of airfoils
0015gl.c
0015grid.c
0015grid.out


Observe aircraft from past still flying:

video



More airflow over cylinder at high Reynolds number:

see flow result plots