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Aerodynamics of Non-lifting Bodies

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Book cover Introduction to Transonic Aerodynamics

Part of the book series: Fluid Mechanics and Its Applications ((FMIA,volume 110))

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Abstract

This chapter presents the sources of drag that are encountered by a nonlifting body that is moving at transonic Mach numbers. In inviscid conditions drag can be produced if the integrated pressure over a body has a component in the opposite direction to the flow (pressure drag). First, the reader is introduced to the relation between the geometry of a body and the pressure distribution over the body. Subsequently, a method for the calculation of the pressure drag over axisymmetric bodies is presented based on the linear potential flow equation. It is shown how the pressure drag is a function of the cross-sectional area distribution of the body. The concept of area ruling is presented and examples are shown of practical implementations of the area rule. If the flow is assumed viscous, other drag sources arise: friction drag and drag due to boundary-layer separation. A qualitative characterization of laminar and turbulent boundary layers is presented along with the concepts of transition and separation. Also, the interaction between shock and boundary layer (both weak and strong) is further detailed and it is shown how this influences drag divergence in transonic conditions. In addition, calculation methods are presented to estimate the boundary-layer properties of laminar and turbulent boundary layers along with their transition region for bodies subjected to an external pressure and velocity distribution. This chapter contains 8 examples and concludes with 29 practice problems.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    See a text book on calculus such as Ref. [2] for details on logarithmic differentiation.

  2. 2.

    The interested reader is referred to Fick’s laws of diffusion [21].

  3. 3.

    Details on Crocco’s method can be found in Ref. [59].

  4. 4.

    In this context, the word critical is unrelated to the flow properties at sonic conditions.

  5. 5.

    For details on the Runge-Kutta method the reader is directed to an introductory text on numerical methods for differential equations, which is also covered in Ref. [30].

  6. 6.

    The Blasius velocity profile satisfies the nonlinear ordinary differential equation that can be derived from the boundary layer equations under specific assumptions, see (6.90a).

  7. 7.

    “Drag rise” is a term that describes the exponential increase in drag coefficient with Mach number.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Faculty of Aerospace Engineering, Delft University of Technology, Delft, The Netherlands

    Roelof Vos

  2. Department of Aerospace Engineering, The University of Kansas, Lawrence, KS, USA

    Saeed Farokhi

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Vos, R., Farokhi, S. (2015). Aerodynamics of Non-lifting Bodies. In: Introduction to Transonic Aerodynamics. Fluid Mechanics and Its Applications, vol 110. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-017-9747-4_6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-017-9747-4_6

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