AENG 421-11B

Submitted by: Khattab, Tamer Medhat Moh.

Instructor: Mark Angelo Ablaza
An oblique shock wave, unlike a normal shock, is inclined with respect to the
incident upstream flow direction. It will occur when a supersonic flow encounters a
corner that effectively turns the flow into itself and compresses. The upstream
streamlines are uniformly deflected after the shock wave.

This chart shows the oblique shock angle, β, as a function of the corner angle, θ,
for a few constant M1 lines. The red line separates the strong and weak solutions.
The blue line represents the point when the downstream Mach number becomes
sonic. The chart assumes {\displaystyle \gamma }=1.4, which is valid for an ideal
diatomic gas
In supersonic flow, expansion waves occur when bodies begin tonarrow, making
more space available. In passing through an expansionwave, air velocity increases,
while temperature and pressures arereduced. A simple wave or progressive
disturbance in the isentropicflow of a compressible fluid, such that the pressure and
density of afluid particle decrease on crossing the wave in the direction of
itsmotion.

When a supersonic flow encounters a convex corner, it forms an expansion fan,

which consists of an infinite number of expansion waves centred at the corner. The
figure shows one such ideal expansion fan.
Supersonic Flow (Ackeret Theory)
If M is greater than unity, Equation 5.56 changes to a hyperbolic partial differential
equation, specifically, to the following wave equation.
where / and g represent arbitrary functions of their arguments. As an exercise,
verify that Equation 5.69 satisfies Equation 5.68. ф is seen to be constant along
families of straight lines defined by
x — By = constant x + By = constant
The slope of the lines represented by Equation 5.70a is
dy _ 1 dx~ В
= (M2-l)~m
But this is the tangent of the Mach wave angle as defined by Equation 5.45. Thus ф
is constant along a Mach wave. In the case of Equation 5.706,
dy _ _І_ dx~ В
On the upper surface of a body, this would correspond to a disturbance being
propagated forward in the flow, which is physically impossible in a supersonic
flow. Thus Equation 5.706 is ruled out for the upper surface. However, on the
lower surface of a body, g(x + By) is a physically valid flow and represents a
disturbance being propagated rearward along a Mach wave. Similarly, f(x – By) is
not allowed as a solution on the lower surface of a body. The net result is pictured
in Figure 5.23, where it is seen that f(x – By) and g(x + By) are solutions to ф on
the upper and lower surfaces, respec-
Flgure 5.23 Mach waves emanating from upper and lower surfaces of a body.
tively. Since ф is constant along Mach waves emanating from disturbances from
the upper and lower surfaces, it follows that the properties of the flow (velocity and
state) are also constant along these waves.
Along the surface of the body the flow must be tangent to the body. Thus, if Y(jc)
represents the body surface, it follows, to a first order in the perturbation velocities,
that
Consider the upper surface and let x – By = z. Then
/дф =d£d£
dy)u dz dy
= – Bf (5.72)
where /’ denotes dfldz. In addition, from Equation 5.64,
r = 2 дФ
p“ V„.dx
ні (5.73)
II
Thus, combining Equations 5.71 to (5.74)
5.73,
c =1^
p“ Bdx)u
Similarly, on the lower surface, (5.75)
4,1 Bdx),

Thus, according to Ackeret’s linearized theory for supersonic flow around a

slender body, the pressure locally on the body is determined by the slope of the
surface at the particular location in question.
This simple result leads quickly to some interesting conclusions regarding the
characteristics of thin, supersonic airfoils at low angles of attack. Since, for a unit
chord,
C, = [ (CPI – CPu) dx
JO
you can quickly verify that
4a
C, = – g (5.76)

Thus, within the limitations of the linearized theory, the section lift coefficient of a
supersonic airfoil depends only on its angle of attack. Camber is predicted to have
no effect on Ct.
The wave drag coefficient is obtained by integrating the component of C„ in the
drag direction around the airfoil.
(5.77)
If dyldx is expressed in the form
—a+e
where a is the angle of attack of the chord line and є is the slope of the surface
relative to the chord line, Cdw becomes
Cd*=Ч~+1 і (£“2+e,2) dx (5 -78)
The wave drag coefficient can thus be viewed as the sum of two terms; the first
results from lift and the second results from thickness and camber.
Cloi+sI (eu + €,) dx
The first term, CLa, is simply the streamwise component of the normal pressures
integrated over the airfoil. In the case of a subsonic airfoil, this term is canceled by
the leading edge suction force.
The pitching moment coefficient about the leading edge of a thin, super-sonic
airfoil can be written
= j CPlx dx – j Cpx dx 2 2 f’
= ~ga + ffj0 + e^x dx
Table 5.1 compares the results of the linearized theory with the more exact
predictions made earlier for the symmetrical wedge airfoil pictured in Figure 5.22.
In this particular case, the linearized theory is seen to be somewhat optimistic with
regard to lift and drag and predicts the center of pressure to be further aft than the
position obtained from the more exact calculations. Nevertheless, the Ackeret
theory is valuable for predicting trends. For example, for symmetrical airfoils, the
expressions of Cdw and Cm reduce to
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