Noncircular Fuselages in Supersonic Flow

Author: Peterson, Norman Charles

Year: 1949

Degree: Dissertation (Ph.D.)

Advisor: Lagerstrom, Paco A.

Committee Member: Unknown, Unknown

Option: Aeronautics; Mathematics

DOI: 10.7907/JCZX-0749

Abstract

The applicability of linearized theory to the aerodynamic study of slender, three-dimensional bodies in supersonic flow is considered in detail, and figures are presented which show the limitations of body shape and mach number to be observed if quantitatively reliable results are to be achieved. Then methods are developed and evaluated for calculating the supersonic flow about slender noncircular bodies, other than wings.

Sections I and II are concerned with the velocity and pressure predictions of the linearized theory. It is shown that these quantities do not converge to the corresponding predictions of the exact solutions for vanishing disturbance, and the reason therefore is found. In Section III the inapplicability of wing theory methods and the theory of slender circular bodies to the present study is reviewed, and the problem is carried to the fundamental nonrotationally symmetrical solutions of the wave equation; the properties of the noncircular functions are developed in Section IV. Section V contains a description of the Lorentz transformation for obtaining solutions singular on a yawed line, and Section VI a simple statement of the Gothert transformation for changing the Mach number.

Sections VII and VIII contain an exposition of the use of the theory developed in the previous Sections. Bodies in supersonic flow are classified according to size and orientation, an appropriate methods for each are presented and evaluated.

The Appendices present tables of the functions used in the analysis, along with sample computations.

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