317SE - PROPULSION AND AERODYNAMICS

Supersonic Aerodynamics

Handout 1: High-speed fundamentals (compressible ow)

Dr Humberto Medina

September 10, 2021

Contents 287J=(Kg:K ). Finally, at normal ambient conditions,

such as standard temperature and pressure, most real
1 Review of thermodynamics 1 gases behave qualitatively like an ideal gas.
1.1 Perfect gas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
1.2 Internal energy and enthalpy . . . . . . 1
1.2.1 Relationship between cv and cp 1 1.2 Internal energy and enthalpy
1.3 First Law of Thermodynamics . . . . . 2 In order to understand the concept of internal energy,
1.3.1 Thermodynamic processes . . . 2 let us imagine a single molecule of a given gas. Such
1.4 Entropy and the Second Law of Ther- molecule as it moves from point to point it processes
modynamics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 translational kinetic energy. However, a molecule also
1.5 Isentropic relationships . . . . . . . . . 2 contains other types of kinetic and electronic energies.
Namely, rotational, vibrational and electronic (due to
2 Supersonic aerodynamics: Basic concepts the `electronic' energy produced by the electrons around
and denitions 2 each atom). If we now have a nite volume of a gas
2.1 Compressibility . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 (consisting of a large number of such molecules), the
2.2 Reynolds number . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 sum of all the energies of all the molecules within this
2.3 Mach number . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 volume is denes a internal energy. The internal energy
2.4 Inviscid ow . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 per unit mass is dened as the specic internal energy, e .
2.5 Boundary layer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 A quantity related to the specic internal energy is know
2.6 Static and total conditions . . . . . . . 3 as the specic enthalpy, h, and is dened in equation
2.6.1 Important rules . . . . . . . . . 4 (2).

1 Review of thermodynamics h = e + pv (2)

Where p is pressure and v is known as the specic
1.1 Perfect gas volume, that is the volume per unit mass or v = 1=.
A perfect or an ideal gas is a theoretical denition that Now, for a perfect gas both e and h are functions of the
refers to gases which are composed of randomly mov- temperature only, so that:
ing point particles that interact through elastic collisions
only. That is, a collision where the total kinetic energy e = f (T ) (3)
of the particles is preserved. This concept is important
because it enables the use of statistical mechanics to h = f (T ) (4)
analise such gases using a simplied equation of state
given in equation (1). Now if de and dh represent dierentials of the specic
internal energy, e , and the specic enthalpy, h, then for
p = RT (1) a perfect gas the following relations can be written:
Where p,  and T are the state variables of pressure, de = cv dT (5)
density and temperature respectively. R is the specic
gas constant, which has a dierent value of dierent
gases. For air at standard atmospheric conditions, R = dh = cp dT (6)

1
 1 REVIEW OF THERMODYNAMICS

Where cv and cp are dened as the specic heats Mathematically it can be expressed as
at constant volume and constant pressure respectively.
Both specic heats can be functions of temperature. e = q + w (14)
However, for moderate temperatures the specic heats
can be assumed to be constant. A calorically perfect gas Where q is an incremental amount of heat added to
is an ideal gas for which both cv and cp are constant, in the system and w is the work done on the system by the
such a case equations (5) and (6) can be written as: surrounding. Finally, e is the change in energy caused
by changes in heat and work.
e = cv T (7)
1.3.1 Thermodynamic processes
h = cp T (8) Adiabatic process This is process where no heat is
added and/or removed from the system or control vol-
1.2.1 Relationship between cv and cp ume
For a given gas, the specic internal energy and the spe-
cic enthalpy are related through the following relation- Reversible process This is a process where no prop-
ship: erties are lost to the medium or surrounding. In other
words, there is no dissipative phenomenon such as eects
cp cv = R (9) of viscosity thermal conductivity and mass diusion.
If equation (9) is divided by cp
Isentropic process This is a process that is both re-
cv R versible and adiabatic i.e. a constant value of entropy is
1 = (10) maintained.
cp cp
Let us dene the adiabatic index or ratio of specic
heats as = cp =cv . Subtituting into equation (10): 1.4 Entropy and the Second Law of Ther-
modynamics
1 R
1 = (11) The Second Law of Thermodynamics is commonly
cp
known as the Law of increased entropy. Entropy is a
And rearranging it becomes state variable dened as:
R
cp = (12) qr ev
1 ds = (15)
T
Following a similar process if equation (9) is divided Where s is the entropy of the system and T is the tem-
by cv . it leads to the following relationship: perature of the system. qr ev is an incremental amount
R of heat added irreversibly to the system. qr ev can there-
cv = (13) fore be dened so that it relates to the initial and nal
1
points of an irreversible process. In terms of an irre-
versible process equation (15) can be written as:
1.3 First Law of Thermodynamics
q
In its simplest form the st law of thermodynamics tells ds = + dsir r ev (16)
T
us that energy cannot be either destroyed or created and
that it can simply be transformed. This statement is an- In equation (16) q is the actual heat added to the
other application of the law of the conservation of energy system during an irreversible process and dsir r ev is the
as it was known prior to Einstein's relativity theory. Re- generation of entropy. Equation (16) q also implies that
stating this law in relation to thermodynamics one could for an irreversible process entropy increases. Therefore,
say: giving rise to the second law of thermodynamics which
will tell us in what direction a process will take place.
`The increase in the internal energy of a
system is equal to the amount of energy added `A process will take place in a direction or
by heating the system, minus the amount lost in such a way that the total entropy of the
as a result of the work done by the system on system or its surroundings will increase or, at
its surroundings' best, remain the same'

317SE - Propulsion and Aerodynamics 2

 2 SUPERSONIC AERODYNAMICS: BASIC CONCEPTS AND DEFINITIONS

1.5 Isentropic relationships Rearranging equation (21) we obtain

The isentropic relationships are used to relate the dier- d = dp (22)
ent state variables in an adiabatic and reversible process
i.e. isentropic process. These relationships are given in Equation (22) above indicates that if compressibility is
equation (17). large, for instance in the case of a gas, changes in pres-
sure can lead to large changes in density. Imagine now
p2
    =( 1)
2 T2 the ow of air over an airfoil. Inherently, airfoils exhibit
= = (17) large pressure changes along their geometry in order to
p1 1 T1
generate lift. Equation (22) tells us that such changes
will be linked to a change in density, as a consequence it
2 Supersonic aerodynamics: Basic can no longer be treated as a constant as it is the case
concepts and denitions in low-speed aerodynamics. Therefore, a way to assess
whether compressibility is important or can be neglected
2.1 Compressibility is needed.

Compressibility is a specic property of a substance 2.2 Reynolds number

which measures the relative volume change of a uid or
solid as a response to a pressure change. All substances The Reynolds number is a non-dimensional quantity
are compressible to some degree, however, compressibil- which help us quantify and scale the viscous eects in a
ity is almost unnoticeable for liquids and solids. On the given uid ow conguration. It is of particular use when
other hand, compressibility is much more evident when scaling aerodynamic geometries for wind tunnel testing.
dealing with gases. In physical terms compressibility can The Reynolds number is dened as shown in equation
be dened as the fractional change in volume of a uid (23), where U1 if the free-steam velocity, L is a refer-
per unit change in pressure. It can be written as: ence length and  is the kinematic viscosity of the uid.
1 dv U1 L U1L
 = (18) Re = = (23)
v dp  
However, equation (18) is incomplete when describ-
ing the physical processes involved when a substance is 2.3 Mach number
compressed. From experience, it is known that when a The Mach number is a non-dimensional quantity which
gas is compressed its temperature increases. If during can help us quantify and scale compressibility eects for
the compression process the temperature of the gas is a given aerodynamic conguration. The Mach number
kept constant,  can be dened as the isothermal com- is dened as the ration between the local ow velocity,
pressibility, T , which can be written mathematically as V , and the local speed of sound, a.
shown in equation (19), where the subscript T indicates
the the partial derivative is calculated at constant tem- M =
V
(24)
perature, T . In addition, if the compression of the gas a
occurs isentropically, s can be dened as the isentropic
compressibility as shown in equation (20), where the sub- a= RT (25)
p

script s indicates that the partial derivative is taken at

constant entropy. Both T and s are thermodynamic
properties of a uid. 2.4 Inviscid ow
An inviscid ow is that which either exhibits no viscosity
1 dv
 
 = (19) or it can be neglected. Viscosity is a measure of the re-
v T dp sistance of a uid which is being deformed by either shear
stress or extensional stress. Viscosity is measure using
1 dv
(20) the dynamic or kinematic viscosities, which are denoted
 
=
v dp s by  and  respectively.
To examine the implications that the concept of com-
pressibility has on uid ow, let the specic volume be 2.5 Boundary layer
dened as v = 1= and substituting this denition into
equation (18) we obtain equation (21) In simple terms, the boundary layer is a region that de-
velops near the surface of a body when a uid ows over
1 d
 
it. This region is exhibits large velocity gradients, but it
= (21) is also dominated by viscous eects. The boundary layer
 dp

317SE - Propulsion and Aerodynamics 3

 REFERENCES

is responsible for a large proportion of the drag of a body

when a uid ow over it.

2.6 Static and total conditions

For example, so far when the concept of pressure had
been used it has referred to the static pressure, that is
the pressure at a given point in the uid when travelling
at the local ow velocity. Likewise, this is the denition
of the static density, enthalpy and temperature.
On the other hand, the total or stagnation conditions
correspond to the theoretical value of the state variables
when they are locally brought to rest (V = 0) adiabat-
ically (the ow is also assumed to be inviscid). Using
the energy equation and after some mathematical ma-
nipulation it can be demonstrated that for a streamline
in an adiabatic process the total enthalpy remains
constant, but also a relationship between the static and
total enthalpy is deduced as shown in equation (26). In
addition, using equation (8) we can now relate the to-
tal enthalpy to the total temperature at a point in the
ow. Consequently, providing a way to calculate the to-
tal temperature at that point.
V2
h+ = h0 (26)
2

2.6.1 Important rules

ˆ In an adiabatic ow streamline the total enthalpy
and temperature remain constant
ˆ In an isentropic ow streamline the total pressure
and density remain constant

References
[1] D Anderson, Fundamentals of aerodynamics, forth
edition, McGraw-Hill International Edition, 2007
[2] L Houghton, P W Carpenter, Aerodynamics for en-
gineering students, fth edition, Elsevier, 2003
[3] R C Miles, Supersonic aerodynamics: A theoretical
introduction, rst edition, McGraw-Hill Book Com-
pany, 1950

317SE - Propulsion and Aerodynamics 4