Design workflows
How to Build an Airfoil Database for Aerospace Design and Research
HENDOI · 26 October 2026
An airfoil database stores a geometry, its provenance and the polars that were actually run. A folder of unnamed DAT files is not a database.
A record is the shape plus the conditions
The useful object is not a picture of a section. It is a record that lets someone else rebuild the coordinates and understand every polar you attached. If either half is missing, the next project will re-run the work or, worse, reuse a number at the wrong Reynolds number.
Fields worth keeping
| Field | Why it is in the record |
|---|---|
| Name, family and a hash of the normalized coordinates | So “2412” means this point set, not a cousin with a different trailing edge. |
| Generator parameters or the source file | NACA digits, CST coefficients, or the scan the spline came from. Coordinates without parameters cannot be edited safely. |
| Provenance and rights | Generated here, measured here, or used under a licence. Do not place someone else’s ordinates in a shared library and imply you created or measured them. |
| Thickness, camber, leading-edge radius, trailing-edge thickness | The geometry summary a designer filters on before opening a polar. |
| Each polar’s Re, Mach, Ncrit or trip, angle list and method name | A curve with no condition is not reusable. A VIC polar stays labelled as a VIC polar. |
| Convergence and geometry-gate result | So a failed point cannot be smoothed into the archive. |
Habits that keep the library usable
- Normalize every geometry the same way before you hash it. Two files that differ only by a rigid motion are the same section and should not become two designs.
- Store polars as tables with the angle, CL, CD and CM, not only as a plotted image. Images cannot be interpolated into a wing code.
- When you re-run at a new Reynolds number, add a polar. Do not overwrite the old one. The old condition is still a real result.
- Record the panel count and the code version. The lesson on why tools differ is the reason.
- A research catalogue you do not have the right to reproduce stays a citation and a name. HENFOIL’s own library rule is the same idea: a named card is not a substitute for coordinates you are allowed to use.
Build the database before the optimization study, not after. The study’s value is the records, not the single winner written on a slide.
Where this sits in the series
In simple words: what this page is for
An airfoil database stores a geometry, its provenance and the polars that were actually run. A folder of unnamed DAT files is not a database.
This lesson exists because section decisions fail when geometry, method labels and selection reasons are scattered. How to Build an Airfoil Database for Aerospace Design and Research helps you keep a clean trail from shape to polar to choice.
Why the topic matters
Engineers lose time when a title sounds clear but the page only sketches the idea. This article expands How to Build an Airfoil Database for Aerospace Design and Research so you can answer three questions without jargon: what is the idea, when do you use it, and how do you check it in a HENDOI product.
Read the sections above for the core definitions. Use the steps below to move from reading into a real project trail you can share with a teammate.
How to apply this in HENDOI
In practice: create a HENDOI account or log in, open HENFOIL, bring a section in (create, import DAT, or digitize), pass the geometry gate, climb the analysis ladder only as far as the decision needs, then compare and archive. Every calculated number should keep its method label.
When the section choice is ready for the aircraft, continue in HENSYNTH for mission, compliance and trades. Same account. Same plans.
What this page will not claim: a teaching polar or geometry note is not a flight-Re certificate. HENFOIL labels methods so you know what you bought. Tunnel data and professional judgement still sit outside any single software run.
Checklist before you leave this page
- Can you state the idea of How to Build an Airfoil Database for Aerospace Design and Research in one sentence?
- Do you know which product owns the next action — HENFOIL or HENSYNTH?
- Will every number you keep carry a method label or a stored-run source?
- If you are new here, have you opened Register or Login?
Related reading on this site
- Active Flow Control on Airfoils: Suction, Blowing and Synthetic Jets
- How Adverse Pressure Gradients Affect Airfoil Boundary Layer Separation
- What Is the Aerodynamic Center of an Airfoil? Location, Meaning and Applications
- What Is Airfoil Aerodynamic Efficiency Across a Range of Flight Conditions?
- All HENDOI blog articles
- HENFOIL product page
- HENSYNTH product page
- Pricing — Student, Professional & Team
- FAQ
- Login · Register now
- Previous: Off-design airfoil performance
- Next: Airfoil coordinates into CAD sketches
- Index: all HENFOIL airfoil lessons
These pages teach the ideas. They are not wind-tunnel data and not a certification analysis. When a number matters, compute it at a stated Reynolds number, Mach number and transition setting, and keep the method label on the result. In HENFOIL that production polar is a VIC polar — see the analysis ladder and the polar field guide.
Both products live
Use this lesson in the HENDOI workspace
This page sits in Design workflows. HENFOIL and HENSYNTH are both live on one account. These articles are screening lessons — not certification reports.
Live · section
HENFOIL
Turn this lesson into a section you can draw, check, analyse and compare. Run the polar at the Reynolds number of the vehicle. The method name stays on the result.
To Know MoreLive · aircraft
HENSYNTH
After the section is chosen, set geometry and mission requirements, run screening, read compliance, synthesize candidates and download or mail the report.
To Know MoreAerospace industry collaboration
Share thoughts and ideas — help us build better solutions
We are looking for aerospace industry collaboration. Share your thoughts, ideas and real workflow challenges so we can improve our products and deliver the best solutions for OEMs, UAV / eVTOL teams, labs and aeronautical engineering companies.
Written by
Related articles
- How to Convert Airfoil Coordinates into CAD Sketches for Wing Design
A CAD sketch of an airfoil is the normalized section, scaled to the real chord, drawn in a plane normal to the leading edge or the spar, and closed on purpose.
- How to Compare Airfoils Using Multi-Condition Performance Maps
A performance map shows a coefficient over two operating axes, such as lift coefficient and Reynolds number. Comparing sections on one polar hides the axis where they actually differ.
- Airfoil Selection for High-Lift Aircraft: Balancing Cruise Efficiency and Takeoff Performance
A high-lift airplane needs a cruise section and a deployed high-lift system. Selecting only for CLmax, or only for cruise L/D, designs half the flight.