Only The Best Is Good Enough
Airfoils Incorporated is a consulting practice founded by Dan M. Somers, an internationally recognized expert with over 40 years of experience designing airfoils for wind turbines, fans, and aircraft. Somers co-developed the Eppler Airfoil Design and Analysis Code with Richard Eppler of Universitat Stuttgart and has produced over 30 custom airfoils documented in nearly 60 publications, including NASA Technical Papers, NREL reports, and AIAA journal articles. Services span custom airfoil design, aerodynamic analysis, and experimental wind-tunnel verification - including high-lift systems - for government agencies, aerospace manufacturers, and energy developers.
Dan M. SomersPresident
Custom airfoil design using the Eppler Airfoil Design and Analysis Code for applications including wind turbines, general aviation, UAVs, sailplanes, and industrial fans.
Experimental verification of airfoil designs and high-lift systems in low-turbulence facilities, covering facility coordination, test planning, model specification and fabrication, investigation conduct, and results analysis and reporting.
Analysis of existing airfoil designs and consultation in general aerodynamics.
Aviation · Aerospace · Defense · Wind · Industrial
Wind · Client: National Renewable Energy Laboratory
Multiple airfoil families designed for horizontal-axis wind turbines ranging from 10 to 50 meters in diameter, covering both stall-regulated and variable-speed/variable-pitch configurations. Delivered measured annual-energy increases of 23 to 35 percent with reduced peak-power variability.
Industrial · Client: National Renewable Energy Laboratory
Airfoils designed for cooling-tower fan applications as part of a wind-turbine blade roughness and fan study.
Aviation · Client: Groen Brothers Aviation
Custom airfoils designed for the Hawk 4 gyroplane.
Aviation · Client: NASA
Natural Laminar Flow airfoil series designed for general aviation aircraft, including airfoils used on the Neico Aviation Lancair 360, Mooney 301, and Swearingen SX-300.