Aerodynamics

Extract

Ever since the birth of the aircraft industry the universities have been making a continual contribution to research and development in aerodynamics. For example between the wars the work of Professor Melvill Jones and his school had a direct impact on the design of aircraft as illustrated by the classical paper (see Fig. 1) ‘The Streamline Aeroplane’ which was presented to the Royal Aeronautical Society by Melvill Jones in January 1929. In the immediate post-war years the work of Professors Lighthill, Ward and others laid the foundation of calculation methods for supersonic aerodynamics which eventually led to the design of practical supersonic aircraft. In addition staff in the universities have produced a continuous stream of theoretical and experimental results which have been useful, both in design, and in the overall research programme of the aircraft industry. In particular this work has resulted in a large number of new test techniques including the design and development of wind tunnels for special purposes. It is this aspect of current work which will be discussed first.