Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-gvvz8 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-26T16:25:55.296Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The Drag of Non-Planar Thickness Distributions in Supersonic Flow

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  07 June 2016

E. W. Graham ,
B. J. Beane  and
R. M. Licher
E. W. Graham
Affiliation:
Douglas Aircraft Company, Inc., Santa Monica, California
B. J. Beane
Affiliation:
Douglas Aircraft Company, Inc., Santa Monica, California
R. M. Licher
Affiliation:
Douglas Aircraft Company, Inc., Santa Monica, California
Get access

Summary

For many conventional aircraft, the thickness of the wing and fuselage can be represented approximately by source distributions in the plane of the wing and on the axis of the fuselage. Such aircraft may be considered as having essentially planar thickness distributions. However, missiles with cruciform wings, biplane arrangements, “ ring ” wings and so on, require non-planar source distributions to represent the wing and fuselage thickness. For this reason, the term “ spatial thickness distribution ” is used.

To simplify the investigation of spatial thickness distributions, a singularity representing an element of volume is introduced. It is shown that the optimum distribution of such elements in a prescribed space gives rise to a minimum wave drag value consistent with that obtained for a Sears- Haack optimum body of revolution.

Type
Research Article
Information
Aeronautical Quarterly , Volume 6 , Issue 2 , May 1955 , pp. 99 - 113
Copyright
Copyright © Royal Aeronautical Society. 1955

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. Sears, William R. On Projectiles of Minimum Wave Drag. Quarterly of Applied Mathematics, Vol. IV, No. 4, 1947.Google Scholar
2. Haack, W. Geschossformen Kleinsten Wellenwiderstandes. Bericht 139 der Lilienthal- Gesellschaft fur Luftfahrt, 1941. 3. HAYES, WALLACE D. Linearized Supersonic Flow. North American Aviation, Inc., Los Angeles, Report No. A.L. 222, 1947.Google Scholar
4. Jones, R. T. Theoretical Determination of the Minimum Drag of Airfoils at Supersonic Speeds. Journal of the Aeronautical Sciences, Vol. 19, No. 12, December 1952.Google Scholar
5. Ferri, A. Application of the Method of Characteristics to Supersonic Rotational Flow. N.A.C.A. Report 841, 1946.Google Scholar
6. Hildebrand, F. B. Methods of Applied Mathematics. Prentice-Hall, 1952.Google Scholar