Mach’s Vision of Flying

P M V Subbarao
Professor
Mechanical Engineering Department

True Understanding of Moving Fast!!!

Mach Number : A True Measure of High Speed Systems

Velocity of flow V
Mach Number  M
Sonic Velocity c

Vac
Mach number of a flight M ac 
c

V jet
Mach number of a Jet M Jey 
c , jet
 Mach’s Cone
• As Mach number increases, the strength of the Cone increases
and the Angle of the shockwave becomes increasingly severe

• Mach Angle

1
 
sin M 
Moving Disturbance of Finite Size In A Fluid

• Mach’s thought experiments are limited to infinitesimally small

object.
• What is minimum size of the object, which will follow Mach’s
cone?
• Later experience proved following:
•As mach number becomes very large for a given size of the object,
the Mach wave becomes a shock wave and gets bent so severely
that it lies right against the vehicle.
• Resulting flow field referred to as a shock layer.
 Mach’s experiments

Mach was actually the first person in history to

develop a method for visualizing the flow
passing over an object at supersonic speeds.
He was also the first to understand the
fundamental principles that govern supersonic
flow and their impact on aerodynamics.

"Photographische Fixierung der durch

Projektile in der Luft eingeleiten Vorgange"
that he presented to the Academy of
Sciences in Vienna in 1887.

Ernst Mach's photo of a bullet in supersonic flight

 Mach’s Witness of Shock

• Not only was Mach was able to make the invisible shock waves
visible, but it is even more amazing that he was able to
photograph the phenomenon.
• His experiments required split-second timing in an age before
computers or electronics were available.
• Mach's shadowgraph technique and a related method called
Schlieren photography are still widely used to observe supersonic
flow fields even today.
• Yet Mach's contributions to supersonic aerodynamics were not
limited to experimental methods alone.
• He was the first person to note the sudden and discontinuous
changes in the behavior of an airflow when the ratio V/c goes from
being less than 1 to greater than 1.
 Mach Waves, Revisited
• A ‘’point-mass’’ object moving with Supersonic velocity
Generates an infinitesimally weak “mach wave”.
• The direction of flow remains unchanged across Mach wave.

ct  1 1 1
sin        sin
 V  t  M M
 Oblique Shock Wave
• When generating object is larger than a “point”, shockwave is
stronger than mach wave …. Oblique shock wave




• -- shock angle

• -- turning or “wedge angle”
 High Angle Objects

Sleek Bodies at Bluff Bodies at

supersonic Speeds supersonic Speeds
 Mach Number : A Parameter to Select Suitable
Flying Technology
• Ma <0.2 : Incompressible Flow Systems : Strong Attentions to
Laminar & Turbulent Flows : High Cd Systems are economical.
• 0.2 < Ma <0.9 : Compressible Subsonic Systems : Medium to mild
attention to Laminar & Turbulent Flows : Low Cd Systems are
essential.
• 0.9 < Ma <1.05 : Transonic Systems : Better to avoid…
• 1.05 < Ma < 2.0 : Supersonic Systems : Essential for National
Security
• Ma > 2.0 : Hypersonic Systems : Means for Space Exploration
• Development of An Engineering Science called Gas Dynamics.
Evaluation of Speed of A Disturbance in A Medium
 Conservation Laws Applied to 1 D Steady disturbance
For steady flow momentum equation for CV:


. VV  p 
For steady 1-D flow :
d dp
dx
U  
2

dx p, 


d U 2
  dp P+dp, d C

Change = final - initial

  d c  u  2 2
 c  ( p  dp )  p
  d c  u  2 2
 c  ( p  dp)  p
For infinitesimally small disturbance

2 2 2
u  c & 2cu  c

2 dp
c d  dp  c 
d
 Travel of sound as A Thermodynamic Process
• An infinitesimal disturbance is considered as reversible adiabatic
process.
• The speed of sound can be obtained easily for an ideal gas because
of a simple mathematical expression.
• The pressure for a perfect gas during an isentropic process can be
expressed as a simple function of density and ratio of specific heats
(function of molecular structure ,  namely
p  constant   

dp c    constant    1
c
d
constant    p
c   
 

c  RT
 Role of Speed of Sound in High Speed Flows

• Speed of sound in a fluid medium establishes significant

interaction between microscopic and macroscopic kinetic energies
of the fluid molecules.
• Every decelerating molecule will gain microscopic energy and lose
macroscopic kinetic energy.
• These interactions are understood through definition of Stagnation
Properties.
• Stagnation property is defined as property of a high speed fluid,
when it is isentropically bought to rest.
• Stagnation enthalpy, it is defined as the maximum possible
microscopic kinetic energy of a fluid.