variavel0=<b>Denis Rinaldi Petrucci</b> - denisrpetrucci@uol.com.br Escola Federal de Engenharia de Itajubá
<b>Nelson Manzanares Filho</b> - nelson@iem.efei.br Escola Federal de Engenharia de Itajubá
<b>Abstract.</b> A numerical technique for inverse airfoil design is presented in this paper. A suitable combination of a conformal mapping and a linear vortex panel method is employed. The coordinates of a circle or quasi-circle in the transformed plane are searched in order to satisfy a required velocity distribution on the target airfoil contour at the physical plane. The velocity distribution is prescribed as a function of the natural coordinate. The use of a conformal mapping augments the precision of the inverse procedure, by damping possible geometrical oscillations at the leading edge region caused by the panel slope variations during the iterative process. In this way, smooth aerodynamic shapes are guaranteed to be produced on the whole contour. Various test cases are presented to validate the efficiency and robustness of the hybrid technique for inverse airfoil design.
<b>Keywords.</b> Inverse design, Airfoils, Panel method, Conformal mapping.