Transonic flow

Abstract

The main original contributions of this thesis are presented in Chapters II, III and IV, each of which is largely self-contained, but which are all directed at particular aspects of the same problem, the prediction of the pressure on an airfoil in symmetrical transonic flow. Chapter I sets this problem in its relation to transonic aerodynamics and provides accounts of various studies which are used in subsequent chapters with only limited explanation. Chapters II and III are devoted to extending the theory of Cole and Royce for transonic flow past an axisymmetric body, first to two-dimensional transonic flow past a thin airfoil, and then to flow past a thin planar delta wing. Chapter IV examines a different type of approximation which has received considerable attention, the parabolic equation approximation. It is shown how to remove certain deficiencies of methods based on this approximation, but one of the consequences is to cast doubt on the reliability of the method which appeared to give closest agreement with experiment.