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Note on the Numerical Evaluation of the Wave Drag of Smooth Slender Bodies Using Optimum Area Distributions for Minimum Wave Drag

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 July 2016

E. Eminton
Affiliation:
Royal Aircraft Establishment
W. T. Lord
Affiliation:
Royal Aircraft Establishment

Extract

The linearised theory value of the wave drag D at zero lift of a smooth slender body of arbitrary cross-sectional shape was shown by Ward to be given by

where S (x), 0 ⩽ x ⩽ 1, is the cross-sectional area distribution of the body and q is the kinetic pressure. The development of this result has aroused interest in two problems: the derivation of the optimum area distribution for minimum wave drag under certain specified conditions and the numerical evaluation of the wave drag of a specified area distribution. These apparently distinct problems have hitherto been treated separately, but it is shown here how an attempt to solve the first problem has led to a practical method of solving the second.

Type
Technical Notes
Copyright
Copyright © Royal Aeronautical Society 1956

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References

1. Ward, G. N. (1949). Supersonic Flow Past Slender Pointed Bodies. Quarterly Journal of Mechanics and Applied Mathematics, Vol. II, Pt. I, pp. 7597, March 1949.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
2. Routledge, N. A., Lord, W. T. and Eminton, E. (1954). Note on the Evaluation of the Integral for S'(0) = S' (l) = 0. Journal of the Royal Aeronautical Society, Vol. 58, p. 787, November 1954.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
3. Eminton, E. (1955). On the Minimisation and Numerical Evaluation of Wave Drag. R.A.E. Report Aero. 2564, November 1955.Google Scholar