Loads have been measured on wedges placed symmetrically in supersonic jets of air. The jets were created by a nozzle with a radially divergent exit section having a lip Mach number of 2.2. The underexpansion ratio was varied from 1 to 2.2 and the distance between the nozzle exit section and the wedge apex was varied from 0 to 2 nozzle exit diameters. All wedges had a base width equal to the nozzle exit diameter: their total included apex angles covered the range 30° to 180°. Pressures were measured on the front faces and the bases for three of the wedges, hence enabling individual contributions to the overall force to be evaluated. Overall loads were measured by means of strain-gauged supports for all six wedges. It was found that the overall load coefficient is only weakly dependent on underexpansion ratio and wedge location but depends strongly on wedge angle. The maximum load coefficient recorded corresponded to 73% of the jet momentum. The base pressures contribute up to 59% of the overall load on a 45° wedge but rather less for larger wedge angles.

This paper describes part of a detailed study of annular jets of different diameter ratios. From the overall pressure and spectral measurements of conical and basic annular jets of five diameter ratios the coherent structures of the standing vortices, wake vortices, jet vortices, lower wake induced vortices and wake induced vortices can be isolated and their effects assessed. The findings are supported by the available multi-exposed schlieren photographs of both the conical and basic annular jets. The causes for the presence or absence of the additional trains of vortices in the jet flow can also be evaluated by the variation of the diameter ratio. For the standing vortices and wake vortices within the flow behind the interface good correlation is found with the available pressure behind the interface.

A model of the boundary layer transition process at an infinite swept attachment line under incompressible flow conditions and in the presence of a gross upstream disturbance is developed. The approach adopted is based upon the spot concepts of Emmons which are well established for transition on a flat plate. An extension to compressible flow situations is made by means of a simple transformation which reduces the process to an equivalent incompressible form. A new criterion for predicting the onset of attachment-line transition is proposed.

The effect of base slant on the base pressure distribution, drag coefficient and vortex shedding characteristics of a model consisting of an axisymmetric main body with an ellipsoidal nose have been investigated for three fineness ratios; 3, 6 and 9. A sudden change in the drag coefficient and separated flow pattern is observed at a critical slant angle (for constant incidence) or at a critical angle of incidence (for a constant base slant angle). The tests confirm that the value of the maximum drag coefficient is extremely sensitive to angle of incidence. Measurements of the frequency of vortex shedding are presented and the structure of the wake is investigated using smoke visualization and hot-wire correlation measurements. The wake is found to be far less stable than that from a two-dimensional bluff body and the vortex structures are sometimes in-phase and sometimes out of phase across the wake. The effect of free-stream turbulence on this family of body shapes is observed to be different to that on three-dimensional blunt-faced bluff bodies. Free-stream turbulence is found to have a minimal effect on base pressure for slant angles giving a recirculating type near wake flow. When longitudinal vortices are present the addition of free-stream turbulence slightly reduces the magnitude of the peak suctions recorded on the base but has little effect on base drag.

A first order panel method has been developed for calculating the incompressible potential flow about arbitrary three-dimensional wings. The method utilises a distribution of source and vorticity singularities on the mean camber surface of the wing and solves for the distribution by satisfying the boundary condition of zero normal flow at selected points on the surface of the wing. The method takes less computing time compared to other existing first order methods for the comparable numerical accuracy. This method can handle wings having cusped trailing edges and thin sections.

The paper presents the results of measurement of the static pressure, total pressure and swirl in the flow through an S-shaped duct of typical air intake proportions mounted in a wind tunnel and tested at different incidences and different through-flow ratios. In order to reduce the magnitude of swirl at high incidence, two methods have been studied - one, to change the distribution of pressures by means of a spoiler and two, to re-energize the separated flow with an inflow of free stream air through auxiliary inlets. Measurements were also made, at 0° incidence, with a perforated spoiler intended to simulate roughly the taking in of low energy flow from the fuselage boundary layer. The results show a small degree of swirl at low incidence which takes the classical pattern of two contra-rotating flows, and a large degree of swirl at high incidence, in the form of a single rotating flow. Of the anti-swirl devices, the spoiler is the more powerful and can be sized either to reverse the swirl direction or to eliminate the swirl completely. A parameter of swirl coefficient, SC60, has been suggested. Values of SC60 at 30° incidence are 0.188 for the duct as designed, 0.068 for the arrangement with auxiliary inflow and −0.039 with a solid spoiler of width 0.15 times throat width. The various arrangements tested, together with results of an earlier study, shed useful light on the general nature of swirl in an S-duct, its method of generation and its final form and magnitude. A further experiment will be made on a duct having both a horizontal and a vertical offset.

A study has been made of the changes that take place in the flow around a square section cylinder as the angle of incidence is increased from 0° to 45°. Measurements of the Strouhal number, S, and the vortex longitudinal spacing, a/d, are presented and used to estimate the vortex strength, , and vortex street spacing ratio, b/a. is found to vary between about 1.2 and 1.7 depending on incidence, and is given approximately by 0.52(1 - Cpb)/2πS, where Cpb is the mean base pressure coefficient. As the incidence is increased from 0°, S at first decreases slightly and then rises sharply to a maximum at 13.5° incidence, which is the incidence where reattachment of the shear layer, in some mean sense, is expected to commence. The spectra of pressure and velocity fluctuations were measured and subharmonic peaks were found in both spectra at 5° and 10° incidence. It is suggested that they may have been caused by an interaction between a vortex and a trailing edge corner. The degree of organisation of the vortex shedding process was estimated by calculating the sharpness factor, Q, of the spectral peaks at the vortex shedding frequency. In general Q fluctuated with changes in incidence. High values of Q occurred at angles of incidence where the rate of change of the mean base pressure coefficient with incidence is very small whereas low values occurred where the flow is changing to a different state.

The problem of energy transfer between an airstream and a wing in sinusoidal motion has been investigated by a series of authors beginning with Frazer who in 1939 considered the power input required to maintain forced oscillations of an aeroplane wing in flight. More recently Nissim introduced an ‘aerodynamic energy concept’ as the basis for the design of active control systems for flutter suppression. In this paper the author reconsiders the energy characteristics of the aerodynamic matrix in terms of the network concepts of resistive and reactive elements, corresponding to energy dissipation and energy storage respectively. A dual formulation of Nissim’s method is described and an extension proposed that takes account of aerodynamic energy storage in addition to aerodynamic energy dissipation.

As part of a series of investigations of the swirl in S-ducts, the present paper gives the results of tests on a duct with both horizontal and vertical offsets, for comparison with earlier work on ducts with horizontal offset only. Results obtained bear a similarity to those of Reference 2, for which the duct had the same cross-sectional shapes and areas, but the addition of a vertical offset magnifies the resultant swirl considerably. As before, the swirl is found to be sensitive to entry conditions, in that a solid spoiler, blocking off 15% of entry width from the inside wall, reverses the sense of the final swirl. Taken overall, the results throw additional light on the nature of the swirl problem. A particularly interesting and potentially important correlation is obtained between the final swirl (in magnitude and sense of rotation) and a pressure difference between the top and bottom walls of the duct, taken in the end plane of the second bend.

Theory and results are presented which show that it is questionable to base a flutter suppression law, synthesised in terms of an energy dissipation criterion, entirely on aerodynamic data. It is shown that aileron mass balance and aileron/jack impedance can adversely affect regions of stability which have been predicted using aerodynamic terms alone. Comments are also made which attempt to unify various cost functions which are used when either an energy dissipation or an energy dissipation and storage criterion is used in the formulation of flutter suppression laws.

A linearized two-dimensional incompressible potential flow theory for two-element uncambered tandem aerofoil sections is developed. It leads to formulas for lift and moment which can be calculated rapidly on a programmable hand calculator, and which reduce, when the two aerofoil elements come together, to the familiar thin-aerofoil formulas for an aerofoil with a simple flap. The theory is shown to give lift and moment predictions which are in good agreement with predictions of numerical potential flow theory.

While it has long been known that added fluid mass may be important in the dynamics of parachutes, due to inadequate or incorrect derivation and/or implementation of the added mass tensor its full significance in the stability of parachutes has yet to be appreciated. The concept of added mass is outlined and some general conditions for its significance are presented. Its implementation in the parachute equations of motion is reviewed, and the equations used in previous treatments are shown to be erroneous. A general method for finding the equivalent external forces and moments due to added mass is given, and the correct, anisotropic forms of the added mass tensor are derived for the six degree-of-freedom motion in an ideal fluid of rigid body shapes with planar-, twofold- and axisymmetry, These derivations may also be useful in dynamic stability studies of other low relative density bodies such as airships, balloons, submarines and torpedoes. Full nonlinear solutions of the equations of motion for the axisymmetric parachute have been obtained, and results indicate that added mass effects are more significant than previously predicted. In particular, the component of added mass along the axis of symmetry has a strong influence on stability. Better data on unsteady forces and moments on parachutes are needed.

Consideration is given to the relationship H1 = f(H) linking the common shape factor H and the mass-flow shape parameter H1 which is used in entrainment models of boundary-layer development. A formula suggested by Green et al is found to be most nearly consistent with the measurements presented. However, a more exact prediction of H1 is obtained by introducing a factor involving the Reynolds number based on the local momentum thickness θ; thus H1 = f(H, Reθ). Predictions obtained by incorporating the appropriately modified entrainment equation into the well-known method of Green et al prove not to give an improved representation of the development of boundary layers studied experimentally by the authors and others. It is concluded that the modified formula for H1 is primarily useful in giving an improved specification of the overall boundary layer thickness δ = θ(H1 + H), and hence of other features of the developing profile.

Exact stress functions which satisfy the homogeneous differential equations of equilibrium for membrane actions are available from the static geometric analogue of previously derived exact displacements of inextensional bending. For finite element evaluation it is necessary to know the displacements (and rotations) caused by these membrane actions. A method of calculating approximate displacements is described which uses the principle of minimum potential energy. Results are given for specimen triangular elements with positive, zero and negative Gaussian curvatures. A listing is appended of a Fortran computer program which allows calculation of these approximate displacements, rotations and other physical quantities for other element shapes.

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.

A mathematical model for estimating the stress-field in the vicinity of cracks in human patella has been studied. In conformity with experimental observations with regard to the mechanical properties of osseous tissues, elasticity and anisotropy of the patella have been paid due consideration. The present study being analytical, the problem is first formulated mathematically, and posed as a boundary value problem. Using Mellin transforms technique, the problem is reduced to solving a Fredholm integral equation which is treated numerically by employing Chebyshev quadrature formula. Numerical results are presented. It is suggested that the techniques used may also find application to engineering structures.