Airfoil Flow Visualization

WebGL Joukowski potential flow · GPU pressure field · no stall model

Values

AoA α0°

Camber β0°

Thickness0.15

Circulation Γ0

Lift coeff Cl0.00

RendererWebGL

FPS—

Flow Controls

Angle of attack α 0°

Camber β 0°

Thickness (a/R) 0.15

Freestream U∞ 1.0

Flow line dash 6

Flow line spacing 26

Presets

Display

Theory

Joukowski transformation maps a circle in the ζ-plane to an airfoil in the z-plane:

Flow around the circle = uniform stream + doublet + vortex (circulation Γ). The Kutta condition fixes Γ so the rear stagnation point sits at the trailing edge:

Lift follows from Kutta–Joukowski:

Surface pressure coefficient:

⚠ Ideal potential flow — no viscosity, no separation, no stall. Real wings stall when the boundary layer separates (typically α ≈ 12–18°).

WebGL note: the pressure field is evaluated per-pixel in a fragment shader (inverse Joukowski + complex velocity + chain rule), so it is full-resolution and recomputed every frame on the GPU. Streamlines, particles and the Cp plot are drawn on a 2D overlay canvas.

Controls

Mouse: drag to pan, wheel to zoom.
Touch: one finger pan, pinch to zoom.
Keyboard: ←/→ adjust AoA, Space play/pause, R reset view.
Panels: drag the Values header or the Cp plot title bar to reposition them.

Legend

low pressure (suction)

high pressure

streamline particles

lift vector L′

stagnation points