Article · Wikipedia archive · Last revised Jun 18, 2026

Mark Drela

Mark Drela is an American aeronautical engineer, currently the Professor of Fluid Dynamics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and an Elected Honorary Fellow of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics. He is primarily concerned with computational engineering, design, and optimization. Drela is famed for his work on aerodynamics software:XFOIL for airfoil analysis and design using a panel method coupled to a boundary layer method Athena Vortex Lattice (AVL) for flight dynamic analysis using a vortex lattice method MISES for design and analysis of turbo machinery blading

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Mark Drela (July 1, 1959) is an American aeronautical engineer, currently the Professor of Fluid Dynamics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and an Elected Honorary Fellow of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics. He is primarily concerned with computational engineering, design, and optimization.1 Drela is famed for his work on aerodynamics software:

  • XFOIL for airfoil analysis and design using a panel method coupled to a boundary layer method2
  • Athena Vortex Lattice (AVL) for flight dynamic analysis using a vortex lattice method3
  • MISES for design and analysis of turbo machinery blading4

In 2009, Drela was elected as a member into the National Academy of Engineering for creation of breakthrough aircraft designs and design software that enabled operation in new flight regimes.

References

References

  1. "Mark Drela". mit.edu. Retrieved December 24, 2024.
  2. "Faculty profile: Mark Drela's research — and his teaching — offer beauty and functionality". mit.edu. Retrieved April 28, 2017.
  3. "AVL Overview". mit.edu. Retrieved November 26, 2018.
  4. "MISES - SOFTWARE FOR DESIGN AND ANALYSIS OF TURBOMACHINERY BLADING". mit.edu. Retrieved November 10, 2020.