Theoretical Calculation of Airfoil Lift

Lift and drag could not be calculated before the first flight. The Wright brothers experimented with shapes and configuration to arrive at the design that finally took off. One of the reasons was that the equations were based on hydrodynamic theory with no losses. The first calculation of lift due to an airfoil was based on the Kutta-Jukowski relations, which required satisfaction of the Kutta condition (still based on ideal flow assumption).

Kutta Condition: "The trailing edge is the rear stagnation point"

A circulation Γ is necessary to move the rear stagnation point to the trailing edge

Kutta-Jukowski Relation:

lift / span =