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At least 199 records · Page 11

Arrangement of Bodies of Revolution in Supersonic Flow to Reduce Wave Drag

The wave drag of a combination of slender bodies of revolution at zero angle of attack is studied with a view to determining the arrangements for which the total drag is a minimum.Linearized theory is used to calculate the pressure distribution in the field surrounding the bodies. The interference drag coefficient is computed for different arrangements. The special cases of two bodies and of a three-body combination with bilateral symmetry are considered. The bodies treated are of the form determined by Sears and Haack as having minimum wave drag for prescribed volume and length. They also have equal fineness ratios. Numerical calculations of the drag coefficient of interference are carried out and curves are drawn which show the relative positions at which minimum drag occurs. A three-body configuration is found for which the total wave drag is about 35 percent less than the sum of the individual wave drags of the three bodies.

Friedman, Morris D↗

Determination of Shapes of Boattail Bodies of Revolution for Minimum Wave Drag

By use of an approximate equation for the wave drag of slender bodies of revolution in a supersonic flow field, the optimum shapes of certain boattail bodies are determined for minimum wave drag. The properties of three specific families of bodies are determined, the first family consisting of bodies having a given length and base area and a contour passing through a prescribed point between the nose and base, the second family having fixed length, base area, and maximum area, and the third family having given length, volume, and base area. The method presented is easily generalized to determine minimum-wave-drag profile shapes which have contours that must pass through any prescribed number of points. According to linearized theory, the optimum profiles are found to have infinite slope at the nose but zero radius of curvature so that the bodies appear to have pointed noses, a zero slope at the body base, and no variation of wave drag with Mach number. For those bodies having a specified intermediate.diameter (that is, location and magnitude given), the maximum body diameter is shown to be larger, in general, than the specified diameter. It is also shown that, for bodies having a specified maximum diameter, the location of the maximum diameter is not arbitrary but is determined from the ratio of base diameter to maximum diameter.

Adams, Mac C.↗

A Body Modification to Reduce Drag Due to Wedge Angle of Wing with Unswept Trailing Edge

Ward's slender-body-theory formula for zero-lift drag contains three integrals plus a base-drag term. Two of these integral terms depend only upon the cross-sectional area distribution of the body. The third integral term depends only upon the body shape and axial slopes at the base of the body. This term is neglected in the transonic area rule because in many cases it is zero; however, there are also many cases in which it is not zero. This paper examines the term for the possibility of drag reduction for a particular case. The model considered consists of a body of revolution in combination with any wing that has an unswept trailing edge and a constant trailing-edge angle along its span. It is found that (neglecting any change in base drag) a drag reduction is obtainable which, for the case considered, is an additional 12 percent of that obtained with the area-rule modification. The probable effect of viscosity on this theoretical result is discussed.

Pitts, William C.↗

Assessment of analytic methods for the prediction of aerodynamic characteristics of arbitrary bodies at supersonic speeds

Trends toward the automation of the design process for airplanes and missiles accentuate the need for analytic techniques for the prediction of aerodynamic characteristics. A number of computer codes have been developed or are under development which show promise of significantly improving the estimation of aerodynamic characteristics for arbitrarily-shaped bodies at supersonic speeds. The programs considered range in complexity from a simple linearized solution employing slender body theory to an exact finite difference solution of the Euler equations. The results from five computer codes are compared with experimental data to determine the accuracy, range of applicability, ease of use, and computer time and cost of the programs. The results provide a useful guide for selecting the appropriate method for treating bodies at the various levels of an automated design process.

Landrum, E. J.↗

Calculated Effects of Body Shape on the Bow-Shock Overpressures in the Far Field of Bodies in Supersonic Flow

A theory for the supersonic flow about bodies in uniform flight in a homogeneous medium is reviewed and an integral which expresses the effect of body shape upon the flow parameters in the far field is reduced to a form which may be readily evaluated for arbitrary body shapes. This expression is then used to investigate the effect of nose angle, fineness ratio, and location of maximum body cross section upon the far-field pressure jump across the bow-shock of slender bodies. Curves are presented showing the variation of the shock strength with each of these parameters. It is found that, for a wide variety of shapes having equal fineness ratios, the integral has nearly a constant value.

Lansing, Donald L.↗

Direct simulation of hypersonic transitional flow

A review of recent calculations obtained with Bird's direct simulation Monte Carlo (DSMC) method are presented for the transitional flowfield encountered at reentry conditions. Consequently, the emphasis is to simulate the real-gas effects resulting from a highly energetic nonequilibrium flow. The DSMC calculations for both wide-angle and slender bodies are compared with experimental and continuum calculations. The wide angle body calculations simulate the windward nose of the Shuttle Orbiter and projected aeroassisted orbital transfer vehicles. For the slender, blunted configurations, both two-dimensional and axisymmetric results are presented. Comparisons between the DSMC and continuum calculations show the altitude range where differences in flowfield structure and surface quantities become significant.

Moss, J. N.↗

Numerical simulations of rarefied reentry flows

A review of recent calculations obtained with Bird's direct simulation Monte Carlo (DSMC) method is presented for the transitional flowfield encountered at reentry conditions. Consequently, the emphasis is the real-gas effects resulting from a highly energetic nonequilibrium flow. The DSMC calculations for both wide-angle and slender bodies are compared with continuum calculations. The wide-angle body calculations simulate the windward nose of the Shuttle Orbiter and projected aeroassisted orbital transfer vehicles. For the slender, blunted configurations, both two-dimensional and axisymmetric results are presented. Comparisons between the DSMC and continuum calculations show the altitude range where differences in flowfield structure and surface quantities become significant.

Moss, James N.↗

Direct simulation of hypersonic transitional flow

A review of recent calculations obtained with Bird's direct simulation Monte Carlo (DSMC) method are presented for the transitional flowfield encountered at reentry conditions. Consequently, the emphasis is to simulate the real-gas effects resulting from a highly energetic nonequilibrium flow. The DSMC calculations for both wide-angle and slender bodies are compared with experimental and continuum calculations. The wide angle body calculations simulate the widward nose of the Shuttle Orbiter and projected aeroassisted orbital transfer vehicles. For the slender, blunted configurations, both two-dimensional and axisymmetric results are presented. Comparisons between the DSMC and continuum calculations show the altitude range where differences in flowfield structure and surface quantities become significant.

Moss, J. N.↗

Aerodynamic Characteristics of a Canard and an Outboard-Tail Airplane Model at High Subsonic Speeds

An investigation has been made in the Langley high-speed 7- by 10-foot tunnel through a range of Mach numbers from 0.60 to 0.95 of the static longitudinal and lateral stability and control characteristics of a canard airplane configuration and an outboard-tail configuration. The canard model had a twisted wing with approximately 67 deg of sweepback and an aspect ratio of 2.91 and was tested with three trapezoidal canard surfaces having ratios of exposed area to wing area of 0.032, 0.076, and 0.121. The canard model had a single body-mounted vertical tail. The outboard-tail model had its horizontal- and vertical-tail surfaces mounted on slender bodies attached to the wing tips and located to the rear and outboard of the 67 deg sweptback wing of aspect ratio 1.00. The data, which are presented with limited analysis, provide information at high subsonic speeds on these two types of high-speed airplanes which have previously been tested at supersonic speeds and reported in NACA RM L58BO7 and NACA RM L58E20.

Fournier, Paul G.↗

A three dimensional vortex wake model for missiles at high angles on attack

A three dimensional model for the steady flow past missile and aircraft nose shaped bodies is presented based on augmenting a potential solution with a wake composed of vortex filaments. The vortex positions are determined by the requirement that they, in some sense, align with the flow. The aerodynamic loads on the body are compared with experimental values and used to evaluate the model. The vortex positions compare well with flow visualization results for slender bodies at high angles of attack. The approximations in the wake near the body cause peaks in the force distributions more severe than in the measured values. For given vortex strengths and body attachment points multiple steady vortex positions were not found.

Sheffield, J. S.↗

Theoretical and experimental supersonic lateral-directional stability characteristics

A program has been initiated at NASA Langley Research Center to assess several methods for estimation of lateral-directional stability. As a basis for comparison, experimental data are presented for a simple wing-body vertical tail configuration. The methods for estimating the characteristics include a second-order shock expansion and panel method (MISLIFT), a slender body and 'first-order' panel method (APAS), and a 'higher-order' panel method for linearized supersonic flow (PAN AIR). The results show that PAN AIR provides accurate estimates of these characteristics at moderate angles of attack for complete configurations with either single or twin vertical tails. APAS provides estimates for complete configurations at zero angle of attack. However, MISLIFT only provides estimates for the simplest body-vertical tail configurations at zero angle of attack.

Lamb, M.↗

Approximate methods for calculating the flow about nonlifting bodies of revolution at high supersonic airspeeds

Explicit expressions are developed which yield the Mach number and pressure distributions on the surfaces of pointed nonlifting bodies of revolution operating at high supersonic airspeeds and at values of the hypersonic similarity parameter (ratio of free-stream Mach number to slenderness ratio) greater than 1. Very simple explicit expressions are obtained for these distributions in the special case of slender bodies. In the case of cones, the analytic solutions accurately define the entire flow field over a wide range of free-stream Mach numbers and apex angles.

Eggers, A J , Jr↗

Inclined Bodies of Various Cross Sections at Supersonic Speeds

To aid in assessing effects of cross-sectional shape on body aerodynamics, the forces and moments have been measured for bodies with circular, elliptic, square, and triangular cross sections at Mach numbers 1.98 and 3.88. Results for bodies with noncircular cross sections have been compared with results for bodies of revolution having the same axial distribution of cross-sectional area (and, thus, the same equivalent fineness ratio). Comparisons have been made for bodies of fineness ratios 6 and 10 at angles of attack from 0 deg to about 20 deg and for Reynolds numbers, based on body length, of 4.0 x 10(exp 6) and 6.7 x 10(exp 6). The results of this investigation show that distinct aerodynamic advantages can be obtained by using bodies with noncircular cross sections. At certain angles of bank, bodies with elliptic, square, and triangular cross sections develop considerably greater lift and lift-drag ratios than equivalent bodies of revolution. For bodies with elliptic cross sections, lift and pitching-moment coefficients can be correlated with corresponding coefficients for equivalent circular bodies. It has been found that the ratios of lift and pitching-moment coefficients for an elliptic body to those for an equivalent circular body are practically constant with change in both angle of attack and Mach number. These lift and moment ratios are given very accurately by slender-body theory. As a result of this agreement, the method of NACA Rep. 1048 for computing forces and moments for bodies of revolution has been simply extended to bodies with elliptic cross sections. For the cases considered (elliptic bodies of fineness ratios 6 and 10 having cross-sectional axis ratios of 1.5 and 2), agreement of theory with experiment is very good. As a supplement to the force and moment results, visual studies of the flow over bodies have been made by use of the vapor-screen, sublimation, and white-lead techniques. Photographs from these studies are included in the report.

Jorgensen, Leland H.↗

Application of the Generalized Shock-expansion Method to Inclined Bodies of Revolution Traveling at High Supersonic Airspeeds

The generalized shock-expansion method is applied to obtain solutions to the flow field about pointed bodies of revolution at high supersonic airspeeds and small angles of attack. Simple explicit expressions are obtained for the surface Mach numbers and surface pressures in the special case of slender bodies. In the case of inclined cones, algebraic solutions are obtained defining the entire flow field. Experimental pressure-distribution data for cones and ogives at Mach numbers from 3 to 5 are included. (author)

Savin, Raymond C↗

Space Shuttle flutter as affected by wing-body aerodynamic interaction

In the NASA Langley Research Center 26-inch transonic blowdown wind-tunnel, flutter speeds were measured on 1/80-th scale semispan models of the orbiter wing, the complete Space Shuttle, and intermediate component combinations. Using the doublet lattice method combined with slender body theory to calculate unsteady aerodynamic forces, subsonic flutter speeds were computed for comparison. Aerodynamic interaction was found by test and analysis to raise the flutter speed in some configurations while lowering it in others. Although at Mach number less than 0.7, predicted speeds correlated to within 6% of those measured, rapid deterioration of the agreement occurred at higher subsonic Mach numbers, especially on the more complicated configurations. Additional analysis showed that aerodynamic forces arising from body flexibility potentially can have a large effect on flutter speed, but that the current shuttle design is not so affected.

Chipman, R. R.↗

Sonic-boom calculation in a stratified atmosphere.

For a lifting body of revolution, the exact solutions to the gas dynamical equation are given for the flow field in a stratified atmosphere. The boundary condition is satisfied by using the (linearized) slender-body theory. The solution allows one to make a prediction of the magnitude and the location of the sonic boom in a stratified atmosphere as well as to handle cutoff effects.

Schorling, M.↗