Some Recent Developments in Interference Theory for Aeronautical Applications
Abstract
Exact solutions to loading problems on three dimensional lifting surfaces have proved unobtain able even by small-perturbation methods. Beginning with the eminently successful lifting line idealization, there has resulted in proliferation of theories embodying various physical and consistent or inconsistent mathematical approximations. Nearly all of these are now rendered obsolete by the general availability of digital computation machinery with extraordinary speed and capacity, because the best engineering approach is now unquestionably through numerical treatment of the exact linearized integral equation appropriate to the problem under consideration. Integral representations can be devised for the coupled flow fields due to aggregates of lifting surfaces, combinations of wings and bodies, or nonplanar mean surfaces. A number of applications of this modified approach to the phenomenon known as "interference" are described, some including numerical results and comparisons with experiment.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Jul 01, 1963
- Accession Number
- AD0410081
Entities
People
- Holt Ashley
Organizations
- Massachusetts Institute of Technology