The aerodynamic performance of conventional aircraft configurations are mainly affected by the wing and horizontal tail. Drag reduction by shape optimisation of the wing, while taking into account the aircraft trimmed constraint, has more benefit than focusing solely on the wing. So in order to evaluate this approach, the following study presents results of a single and multipoint aerodynamic shape optimisation of the wing-body-tail configuration, defined by the Aerodynamic Design Discussion Group (ADODG). Most of the aerodynamic shape optimisation problems published in the last years are focused mainly on the wing as the main driver for performance improvement, with no trim constraint and/or excess drag obtained from the fuselage, fins or other parts. This work partially fills this gap by an investigation of RANS-based aerodynamic optimisation for transonic trimmed flight. Mesh warping and geometry parametrisation is accomplished by fitting the multi-block structured grid to a B-spline volumes and performing the mesh movement by using surface control points embedded within the free-form deformation (FFD) volumes. A gradient-based optimisation algorithm is used with an adjoint method in order to compute the derivatives of the objective and constraint functions with respect to the design variables. In this work the aerodynamic shape optimisation of the CRM wing-body-tail configuration is investigated, including a trim constraint that is satisfied by rotating the horizontal tail. The shape optimisation is driven by 432 design variables that envelope the wing surface, and 120 shape variables for the tail, as well as the angle of attack and tail rotation angles. The constraints are the lift coefficient, wing’s thickness controlled by 1,000 control points, and the wing’s volume. For the untrimmed configuration the drag coefficient is reduced by 5.76%. Optimising the wing with a trim condition by tail rotation results in shock-free design with a considerably improved drag, even better than the untrimmed-optimised case. The second optimisation problem studied is a single and multi-point lift constraint drag minimisation of a gliding configuration wing in transonic viscous flow. The shock is eliminated, reducing the drag of the untrimmed configuration by more than 60%, using 192 design variables. Further robustness is achieved through a multi-point optimisation with more than 45% drag reduction.

Simultaneous modelling of aerodynamics, structure and flight dynamics is used to predict the gust loads on a model of 18-metre wingspan sailplane that includes bending flexibility. The ASWING software is used to analyse the time history of the wing-bending moment and the shear force at the wing root for the design gust speed and for the design maximum speed at different wavelengths of a ‘1-Cosine’ gust. Maximum values from the time history were compared with certification requirements for rigid sailplanes. The analysis revealed that wing-bending flexibility reduces the loads.

The refractory metals are usually referred to as metals which have melting points equal to, or higher than, chromium. A number of these metals, such as chromium, molybdenum, niobium, and tungsten are already being used quite extensively as alloying elements in both ferrous and non-ferrous alloys. Tungsten has been used in the lamp industry for many years, while molybdenum has been used for heating elements and niobium has been of interest in the atomic energy field.

The advancements in design and efficiency of aero engines has been associated with an increase in engine temperature. If this advancement is to continue, it will be necessary for a new family of alloys to be made available to the engineer. The current nickel-base high temperature alloys are now approaching their limit. It is difficult to be precise about these temperatures because the applications in terms of stress vary widely.

Several Attempts have been made lately to reduce the drag due to lift of wings by means of camber and twist. Slender wings in particular have been considered and a typical theory is that by Tsien on the supersonic conical wing of minimum drag, where the lift forces on the wing are calculated from conventional aerofoil theory so that the overall lift of a flat wing turns out to be proportional to the angle of incidence. For convenience, this is called a “ linear theory.” It is usual to consider two cases: (1) Wings where the drag is calculated by the same theory so that the full thrust component and the suction at the leading edge are included. (2) Wings where the drag is not calculated by the same theory as the lift but where the thrust at the leading edge is omitted.

A study of the process of mixing and wake development has varied applications in wide ranging fields like jet ejectors, wake signatures, base pressure control, combustors, flow over cut-outs, jet noise and jet interactions. In real flows the wake is usually divided into two zones namely, the near field and the far field. The near field is usually controlled by initial conditions which involve two back-to-back boundary layers separating from the trailing edge of a solid surface. In the far field the flow becomes fully developed and assumes self similarity. The properties of fully developed far field have been well established but little is known about the near field. This paper describes the application of an integral analysis to study the effects of initial conditions like velocity ratio, initial boundary layer thickness, compressibility and temperature ratio on the development of near field of the turbulent mixing layer between two compressible, non-isoenergetic streams at constant pressure. Results include velocity and temperature profiles and the location of jet boundary line in the mixing layer. These results show the gradual approach of the mixing layer to self-preservation.

As pointed out in previous work, in the method of collocation the functions used usually need not be orthogonal or integrable in closed form. Therefore function of different types may be mixed together in representing unknown quantities. Such function may be aptly called hybrid functions. Also, it has been found that usually it is better to represent unknown quantities by similarly looking functions instead of by a series involving higher harmonics. The idea is that by using similar looking functions it is possible to avoid poor regions for collocation, such as near nodal points, and so on, and closer fit in certain regions is assured. Thus if one knows approximately what the function sought looks like, one should try to find a set of function all of which resemble this desired shape, instead of taking an arbitrary set of harmonics when using the method of collocation. Simple examples below illustrate this approach and indicate the good results that can be expected in general.

A sequence of high Reynolds number two-dimensional entry flow problems is considered by varying the form of the entry profile from one representing uniform shear to one representing different parts of a Poiseuille profile. The detailed development of the entry flow is illustrated in a few cases. The entry length, pressure drop, and pressure loss in the entry region are given in each case.

I am grateful to Mr. Llewelyn for pointing out the slip in equation (3) of reference 1.

In considering a particular case of the polynomial camber line I did have to evaluate a number of integrals of the kind but the process is not as laborious as perhaps Mr. Llewelyn implies for there is a simple recurrence relation between integrals of this kind.

Expressions are obtained for the radial and tangential bending moments in a circular plate under the combined action of (a) a lateral load concentrated on the circumference of a circle and an end tension or compression, and (b) a uniformly distributed lateral load, having a diameter less than the diameter of the plate, and an end tension or compression. For both types of loading, solutions are obtained for plates which are simply-supported and for plates with an arbitrary end rotation.

In addition, the following limiting cases are considered: (i) concentrated lateral load with end tension or compression, and (ii) an infinite plate under the simultaneous action of an end tension and a lateral load concentrated on the circumference of a circle of finite diameter.