Lifting surface theory for rectangular wings

Abstract

A new incompressible lifting-surface theory is developed for thin rectangular wings. The solution requires the downwash equation to be in the form of Cauchy-type integrals. Lan's method is employed for the chordwise integrals since it properly accounts for the leading-edge singularity, Cauchy singularity and Kutta condition. The Cauchy singularity in the spanwise integral is also accounted for by using the midpoint trapezoidal rule and theory of Chebychev polynomials. The resulting matrix equation, formed by satisfying the boundary condition at control points, is simpler and quicker to compute than other lifting surface theories. Solutions were found to converge with only a small number of control points and to compare favorably with results from other methods.