Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-m6dg7 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-05T05:27:27.975Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The Future Role of Computers with Special Reference to Aerodynamic Design

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  04 July 2016

Bryan Thwaites
Bryan Thwaites*
Affiliation:
Westfield College, London
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Extract

The computer is seen as the greatest invention in history, in that it has a universality which transcends all other known inventions. It will ultimately be capable ot any process describable in terms ot an open or closed logical structure.

In a deterministic science such as aeronautics, it has clear capabilities in the solution of the equations governing fluid flow, structures, propulsion, navigation and so on. The speed and size of future computers, together with all sorts of new software techniques, will facilitate almost instantaneous solutions of any problems, within the next century.

There will be two major constraints on these developments which we can predict with confidence. The first is financial. The second is more subtle: there may develop sociological resistance to technological advances, especially to those wielding the power implicit in future generations of computers, and this carries important implications for scientists.

Type
Research Article
Information
The Aeronautical Journal , Volume 72 , Issue 688 , April 1968 , pp. 275 - 284
Copyright
Copyright © Royal Aeronautical Society 1968 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

1. Blasius, H. Grenzschichten in Flüssigkeiten mit kleiner Reibung. Z Maths Phys, 56, 1–37, 1908.Google Scholar
2. Whittaker, E. T. and Watson, G. N. A course in modern analysis. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1902.Google Scholar
3. Kantorovitch, L. V. and Krylov, V. I. Approximate methods of higher analysis. Groningen: Noordhoff, 1958.Google Scholar
4. Nonweiler, T. R. F. Aerodynamic problems of manned space vehicles. J R Aero Soc, 63, 585, 521–528, 1959.Google Scholar
5. Smith, A. M. O. and Pierce, J. Exact solution of the Neumann problem. Calculation of non-circulatory plane and. axially symmetric flows about or within arbitrary boundaries. Douglas Aircraft Co Inc Rep ES26988, 1958.Google Scholar
6. Matthews, C. W. A comparison of the experimental sub sonic pressure distribution about several bodies of revo lution with pressure distributions computed by means of linearised theory. Rep Nat Adv Comm Aero, Washington, RM-L9F28, 1949.Google Scholar
7. Young, A. D. and Owen, P. R. A simplified theory for streamline bodies of revolution, and its application to the development of high-speed low-drag shapes. Rep. Memor Aero Res Coun, London, 2071, 1943.Google Scholar
8. Chandrasekhar, S. Hydrodynamic and hydromagnetic stability. Clarendon Press, Oxford, 1961.Google Scholar
9. Fromm, J. E. Finite difference methods of solution of non linear flow processes with application to the Benard prob lem. Rep Los Alamos Scientific Lab, LA-3522, 1967.Google Scholar
10. Fromm, J. E. A method for computing nonsteady, incom pressible, viscous fluid flows. Rep Los Alamos Scientific Lab, LA-2910, 1963.Google Scholar
11. Thom, A. The flow past circular cylinders at low speeds. Proc Roy Soc, A141, 651–669, 1933.Google Scholar
12. Babenko, K. I., Voskresenskiy, G. P., Lyubimov, A. N. and Rusanov, V. V. Three-dimensional flow of ideal gas past smooth bodies. Moscow: “Science” Publishing House, 1964. (Nat Aero Space Admin Tech Transl F-380.)Google Scholar
13. Belotserkovskii, O. M. and Chushkin, P. I. The numerical solution of problems in gas dynamics. 1-126 in Basic developments in fluid dynamics (Ed, Holt, M.). New York: Academic Press, 1965.Google Scholar
14. Iverson, K. E. A programming language. New York: Wiley & Sons, 1962.Google Scholar
15. Martin, W. A. Syntax and display of mathematical ex pressions. Massachussetts Institute of Technology Memor MAC-M-257, 1965.Google Scholar
16. Thwaites, B. 1984: Mathematics ⟺ Computers? Bull Inst Maths Applies, 3, 6, 133–159, 1967.Google Scholar
17. Collins, N. L. and Mitchie, D. (Eds). Machine Intelli gence I. Edinburgh: Oliver and Boyd, 1967.Google Scholar
18. Moses, J. Symbolic Integration. Massachussetts Institute of Technology Memors MAC-M-310 and MAC- M-327, 1966.Google Scholar
19. Slagle, J. R. A heuristic program that solves symbolic integration problems on freshmen calculus, Symbolic Auto matic Integrator (SAINT). PhD Thesis, Massachussetts Institute of Technology, 1961.Google Scholar