Compressible aerodynamics

(third lecture)

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Lecturer: Dr Lailai Zhu
lailai_zhu@nus.edu.sg

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 Overcoming the adverse transonic effects
Adapted from ‘Fundamentals of Aerodynamics’ by J. D. Anderson, Jr. For subsonic planes:
G

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 Increase critical Mach number
Sound barrier

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and drag-divergence Mach
number

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H  Typically

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Drag increased by

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Two key strategies to increase

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more than an order F
1) Favoring thin airfoils

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2) Using swept wings

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E
A B C
D

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Bell X-1 equipped with thinner airfoils

compared to others at that time

Thin airfoils help reduce the perturbation

to the compressible flow 2
 Wave drag
Adapted from ‘Fundamentals of Aerodynamics’ by J. D. Anderson, Jr.
G  A type of pressure drag on aircrafts flying at

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Sound barrier transonic and subsonic speeds;

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 Occurs due to the emergence of shock waves;

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 Contributes to sudden and significant increase in

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H
the drag when the critical Mach number is

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F passed;

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 Independent of viscous effects;

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 Wave drags appear in two forms: 1) resulting
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A B C from the substantial energy consumption (solely
D from the aircraft) of the formation of shockwaves,
experienced by the aircraft as drag; 2)
0 1 shockwave-induced flow separation

Design strategies of mitigating wave drag will be introduced

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 Overcoming the adverse transonic effects: Using swept wings
From aermech.com

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From Wikipedia From Wikipedia

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B-52 backward swept wings X-29 forward swept wings Bell X-5 variable-sweep wings

o Swept wings help delay shock waves and associated drag increase
(increase and ) due to fluid compressibility

o Swept wings are almost used in all jet aircrafts nowadays

o Swept wings commonly denote backward-swept wings

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 The development of backward swept wings

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By Real Engineering in YouTube

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 Advantages of backward swept wings

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wing outperforms the unswept wing;

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higher lift coefficient at the same

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drag coefficient

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 The optimal lift-drag-ratio of the
swept wing is much higher than that
of the unswept wing

From H. Schlichting, J. Roy. Aero. Soc. Measurements of H. Ludwieg,

1962 1939
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 Lift-curve slope affected by swept wing
Linear variation regime

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Mid-chord

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 How swept wings alleviate compressible effects?

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From www.boldmethod.com

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Backward swept wing

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From WikiPedia

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 The chordwise component introduces perturbation
 Swept wings effectively decreases the chordwise
component
Spanwise flow from wing root to tip

Any arising issues?

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 Disadvantages of swept wings and countermeasures
 Loss of lift because some air travels spanwise other than going over it; higher fuel consumption; higher stall speed
and thus long runways; Gliders tend to use no or minimal wing sweep

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 Spanwise flow is prone to trigger flow separation and transition to turbulence, increasing effective angle of attack,

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leading to tip stall (detailed latter)

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Stall speed: the lowest speed of an aircraft to maintain steady stable flight (not to be confused with stall)
Wing aerodynamic devices

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From www.boldmethod.com From Flow Control Techniques and Applications

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By Bill Abbott

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Wing fence of OKB-1 150 bomber

Attenuate spanwise flow

Vortex generators of Boeing 737-800
By Bill Abbott

By Samm Sheperd
at Youtube Vortex generators generate
streamwise vortices 9
 How vortex generators work?
By Bill Abbott

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 Streamwise vortices mix

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high-velocity free stream
with low-velocity

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boundary layer

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 Delay flow separation and

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From www.boldmethod.com
Vortex generators of Boeing 737-800
transition to turbulence
From Flow Control
Techniques and  The wing can operate at a
Applications
higher angle of attack
before the separation
By Bill Abbottcauses a stall

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 Tip stall of backward swept wing
 Stall occurs when the angle of attack of an airfoil/wing increases to a threshold;

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 Aerodynamic stall is not a mechanical failure, e.g., broken engines;

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 When stall begins, the lift reduces and drag increases; generally undesirable;

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 Featured by flow separation or the separation of boundary layer on the airfoil/wing;

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 The boundary layer detaches the surface into a wake, and the flow takes the form of

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eddies and vortices;

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 The boundary layer travels for a long distance in an adverse pressure gradient, which

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causes the flow separation.

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Boundary layer well
From Dfan 315 at Youtube attached to surface
A
B
C
B
A

Adapted from WikiPedia 11

 Tip stall of backward swept wing
 Stall occurs when the angle of attack of an airfoil/wing increases to a threshold;

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 Aerodynamic stall is not a mechanical failure, e.g., broken engines;

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 When stall begins, the lift reduces and drag increases; generally undesirable;

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 Featured by flow separation or the separation of boundary layer on the airfoil/wing;

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 The boundary layer detaches the surface into a wake, and the flow takes the form of

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eddies and vortices;

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 The boundary layer travels for a long distance in an adverse pressure gradient, which

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causes the flow separation.

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Use Bernoulli's law to figure
out the pressure variation in
the streamwise direction

Adverse pressure gradient

Thickest location
The longer the boundary layer
travels in an adverse pressure
gradient, the easier to trigger
Leading Trailing flow separation and thus stall.
edge edge
Image it as the upper surface of an airfoil 12
 Tip stall of backward swept wing
 Stall occurs when the angle of attack of an airfoil/wing increases to a threshold;

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 Aerodynamic stall is not a mechanical failure, e.g., broken engines;

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 When stall begins, the lift reduces and drag increases; generally undesirable;

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 Featured by flow separation or the separation of boundary layer on the airfoil/wing;

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 The boundary layer detaches the surface into a wake, and the flow takes the form of

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eddies and vortices;

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 The boundary layer travels for a long distance in an adverse pressure gradient, which

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causes the flow separation.

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 The flow closer to the surface is easier to by affected
by the swept shape
 The root-to-tip spanwise flow triggers the flow
separation and stall in the outer region of the wing
Lift (near the tip)
 Tip stall causes the outboard wings to lose lift;
because the tip of backward swept wing is located
behind the center of gravity of aircraft. Lift reduction
in this region generates a nose-up pitching moment,
further increasing the angle of attack and thus
From
aviation.stacke
Center of gravity exacerbating tip stall
xchange.com 13
 Swing wing (variable-sweep wing)
From aermech.com
The backward sweep angle can vary on flight

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 Low-speed flight, small sweep angle; better aerodynamic
efficiency

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 High-speed flight, large sweep angle; delay the onset of

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shockwaves in subsonic flights

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 Allow for using the optimal sweep angle for a particular speed

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Bell X-5 variable-sweep wings
 Especially useful for carrier-based aircrafts:
• Higher stalling speed and thus longer runways for swept wings
• Swing wings saves space for the carrier

Disadvantages of swing wing

 Mechanical complexity;
 Loss of internal fuel capacity;
 Extra weight of hinge/pivot structures
From Military TV at Youtube
More practical for military aircrafts
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 By Destiny at Youtube
Forward swept wings
Forward: Inward spanwise flow

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From WikiPedia

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Backward: Outward spanwise flow

Advantages:
 Root stall, safer and more controllable, no need of aerodynamic devices
(introducing extra drag)
 Reducing wing-tip vortices and associated drag
 Fuselage acts as a large wing fence
From Wikipedia  Improved maneuverability especially at larger angle of attack

X-29 forward swept wings

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 Forward swept wings
Advantages:
Dangerous tip stall (outward spanwise flow) becomes safer and more

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
controllable root stall (inward spanwise flow);

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 No need of aerodynamic devices to prevent the tip stall (introducing extra

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drag)

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 Reducing wing-tip vortices and associated drag

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Fuselage acts as a large wing fence, allowing the root wing more effective;

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

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note that the root wing is larger than the tip wing. This increases the lift

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and allows for small wings.

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From www.touringmachine.com  Improved maneuverability especially at larger angle of attack
Aeroelastic divergence of forward wings

Key disadvantages:
 Aeroelastic divergence: the aerodynamic lift twists the wing up
 Directional instability: tends to trigger yaw instability

From Qiqi Wang at Youtube

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 Reducing drag for transonic aircrafts: area rule

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From geekswipe.net Using area rule reduces the peak

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aerodynamic drag at

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A typical reduction about a factor

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of two

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No area rule

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Area-ruled

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Reducing drag for transonic aircrafts: area rule
From geekswipe.net

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Using area rule reduces the peak

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aerodynamic drag at

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A typical reduction about a factor

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of two

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Non-area-ruled Area-ruled

Cock-bottle

Smooth variation

Discontinuity 18
 Reducing drag for transonic aircrafts: area rule
Area-ruled

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 Well-known after Richard T. Whitcomb in 1952 at NASA (also realized

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independently by Otto Frenzl in 1943 and Wallace D. Hayes in 1947)
Cock-bottle

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 The area rule indicates two airplanes with the same longitudinal cross-

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sectional area distribution have the same wave drag, independent of

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how the area is distributed laterally (i.e., in the fuselage or in the wing)

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 The area rule suggests that to reduce the wave drag, a smooth

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variation of cross-section area from the nose to tail shall be designed

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 Immediate groundbreaking improvement in the 50s; The F-102 series Smooth variation
could break the sound barrier after using the area rule

 Less useful for modern supersonic fighters due to powerful engines;

yet still important for subsonic crafts like commercial airlines
operating at the lower end of the transonic regime

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 Anti-shock body based on the area rule
On upper rear wings

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From www.avioners.net

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From WikiPedia

NASA Convair 990 Antonov An-225 Mriya

o A streamlined pod positioned on the leading edge or trailing edge of wings;

o Also known as shock body, Whitcomb body or Küchemann carrot;
o Used to reduce the wave drag for transonic flights;
o Closely related to the area rule, anti-shock body is introduced to smooth the axial variation of
cross-section area;

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Another breakthrough besides the area rule: supercritical airfoils
Main purpose: delay the onset of wave drag in transonic flow regime

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Features of supercritical airfoil:

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 Flattened upper surface

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 Highly cambered aft section

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 Larger leading-edge radius

 Blunt trailing edge (structural

consideration)

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 How a supercritical airfoil works
Main purpose: delay the onset of wave drag in transonic flow regime

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 Wave drags appear in two forms: 1) resulting from the substantial energy

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consumption (solely from the aircraft) of the formation of shockwaves, experienced

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by the aircraft as drag; 2) shockwave-induced flow separation

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 In transonic flow regime, wave drag is mainly due to the shockwave-induced flow

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separation

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o Flattened upper surface reduces the flow acceleration above the
airfoil; this pushes the shockwave to move downstream and
weakens the shockwave, leading to weaker flow separation
From Bertin and o However, flattened upper surface reduces the lift in the mid-chord
Cummings, region
Aerodynamics for
Engineers
o The positive camber of the aft region (especially on the lower
surface) compensates the loss of lift
o The blunt nose of the supercritical airfoil is to minimize the surface
curvatures (hence, the induced flow acceleration) in the mid-chord
region, for the upper and lower surfaces.

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