The forces on wing-fuselage combinations in supersonic flow

Abstract

Reverse-flow relations are used to provide convenient expressions for the aerodynamic forces which act on a general wing-fuselage combination in supersonic flow. The drag, lift, spanwise and chordwise lift distributions, and wing moments are treated. Consideration is given to available methods and results, including tables, which apply to the wing-fuselage interference problem, and reverse-flow relations are then employed to effect desirable changes in the detining force expressions by introducing wings or fuselages in the reverse flow. It is shown that the aerodynamic forces can be determined from a solution for the pressure on only the fuselage surface within the domain of dependence of the wing, this region being selected on the basis of relative ease of computation. In some cases the simplification achieved is quite substantial. Certain results in the literature arise naturally as special cases. The reverse-flow theorem is re-examined in the light of the procedure considered, and it is found to be inapplicable in one respect. The difficulty is circumvented by constructing an acceptable configuration which is equipollent to the prescribed one. It appears that the method given is applicable in other linear hyperbolic problems in mathematical physics when bulk or gross information is required and a suitable reciprocity relation can be constructed.