HIGH SPEED

AERODYNAMICS

Prepared by
Miss. Benci
SHOCK WAVES
FORMATION OF SHOCK WAVES
 An airplane flying well below the speed of sound creates a disturbance in the air
and sends out pressure pulses in all directions
 Air ahead of the airplane receives these "messages" before the airplane arrives and
the flow separates around the airplane
 But as the airplane approaches the speed of sound, the pressure pulses merge
closer and closer together in front of the airplane and little time elapses between
the time the air gets a warning of the airplane approach and the airplane's actual
arrival time At the speed of sound the pressure pulses move at the same speed as
the airplane.
 They merge together ahead of the airplane into a "shock wave" which is an almost
instantaneous line of change in pressure, temperature, and density
 The air has no warning of the impending approach of the airplane and abruptly
passes through the shock system. There is a tendency for the air to break away from
the airplane and not flow smoothly about it; as a result, there is a change in the
aerodynamic forces from those experienced at low incompressible flow speeds.
A plane produces sound that radiates out from the
plane in all direction
 The
waves propagating in front of the plane get
crowded together by the motion of the plane
 As
the plane approaches speed of sound pressure
waves pile up on each other compressing the air
 Compressed air in front of the plane exerts much larger
than usual force on the plane acting as a barrier
 Which leads to sudden increase in aerodynamic drag
MACH NUMBER
Critical Mach number (Mcr or M* ) of an
aircraft is the lowest Mach number at which the
airflow over some point of the aircraft reaches
the speed of sound, but does not exceed it. At the
lower critical Mach number, airflow around the
entire aircraft is subsonic.
Also called as free stream mach number

CRITICAL MACH NUMBER

 Up to a free-stream Mach number of about 0.7 to 0.8, compressibility effects have
only minor effects on the flow pattern and drag
 As the flow must speed up as it proceeds about the airfoil, the local Mach
number at the airfoil surface will be higher than the free-stream Mach number
 There eventually occurs a freestream Mach number called the critical Mach
number at which a sonic point appears somewhere on the airfoil surface, usually
near the point of maximum thickness and indicates that the flow at that point has
reached Mach 1
 As the freestream Mach number is increased beyond the critical Mach number
and closer to Mach 1, larger and larger regions of supersonic flow appear on the
airfoil surface
 These shocks appear anywhere on the airplane (wing, fuselage, engine nacelles,
etc.) where, due to curvature and thickness, the localized Mach number exceeds
1.0 and the airflow must decelerate below the speed of sound
 the shock wave interacts with the boundary layer so that a separation of the
boundary layer occurs immediately behind the shock. This condition accounts for
a large increase in drag which is known as shock-induced (boundary-layer)
separation.
 Shock Drag
 Shock Stall- Reduction in lift
 The airstream is slowed to subsonic
 Buffet (known as Mach buffet)
 Trim,
and stability changes and a decrease in
control force effectiveness.

EFFECTS OF SHOCK WAVES

 DRAG
1) WAVE DRAG

 Wave drag presents itself as part of pressure drag due to

compressibility effects. It is caused by the formation of shock
waves around a body. Shock waves create a considerable amount
of drag, which can result in extreme drag on the body.

2) BOUNDARY LAYER DRAG

The drag caused by the thick boundary layer or region of

separation
SHOCK STALL
The loss of lift due to airflow separation results in a
loss of downwash and a change in the position of the
center pressure on the wing
 BUFFET

Airflow separation produces a turbulent wake behind the wing, which

causes the tail surfaces to buffet (vibrate)
In transonic flow, the flow is unsteady and the shock waves on the body surface may
jump back and forth along the surface, thus disrupting and separating the flow over the
wing surface. This sends pulsing unsteady flow back to the tail surfaces of the
airplane. The result is that the pilot feels a buffeting and vibration of both wing and tail
controls.
CHANCE IN PITCHING MOMENT AND MACH TUCK
 The nose-up and nose-down pitch control provided by the horizontal tail is
dependent on the downwash behind the wing.
 Thus, an increase in downwash decreases the horizontal tail’s pitch control
effectiveness since it effectively increases the AOA that the tail surface is
seeing.
 Movement of the wing CP affects the wing pitching moment. If the CP
moves aft, a diving moment referred to as “Mach tuck” or “tuck under” is
produced, and if it moves forward, a nose-up moment is produced
 This is the primary reason for the development of the T-tail configuration
on many turbine-powered aircraft, which places the horizontal stabilizer
as far as practical from the turbulence of the wings.
 Mach tuck is an aerodynamic effect whereby the nose
of an aircraft tends to pitch downward as the airflow
around the wing reaches supersonic speeds; the aircraft
will first experience this effect at significantly
below Mach 1. This speed is known as the critical Mach
number of the wing.
DRAG RISE IN TRANSONIC REGION
PRESSURE DISTRIBUTION OVER THE
AEROFOIL
 Use of thin aerofoils
 Use of sweep of wing – forward or back
 Low aspect ratio wing
 Vortex generator
 Supercritical and area rule technology

OVERCOMING SOUND BARRIER

 If a thinner airfoil section is used, the flow speeds around the
airfoil will be less than those for the thicker airfoil.
 Thus, one may fly at a higher free-stream Mach number before a
sonic point appears and before one reaches the drag-divergence
Mach number.
 The disadvantages of using thin wings are that they are less
effective (in terms of lift produced) in the subsonic speed range and
they can accommodate less structure (wing fuel tanks, structural
support members, armament stations, etc.) than a thicker wing.

THIN AEROFOILS
Sweep may delay and reduce the effects of
compressibility. A swept wing will delay
the formation of the shock waves
encountered in transonic flow to a higher
Mach number. Additionally, it reduces the
wave drag over all Mach numbers.

SWEEP BACK
SWEPT FORWARD
A major disadvantage of swept wings is that there is a span wise
flow along the wing, and the boundary layer will thicken toward
the tips for sweepback and toward the roots for sweep forward.
In the case of sweepback, there is an, early separation and stall
(tip stall) of the wing-tip sections and the ailerons lose their roll
control effectiveness. The span wise flow may be reduced by the
use of stall fences, which are thin plates parallel to the axis of
symmetry of the airplane. In this manner a strong boundary layer
buildup over the ailerons is prevented.
 Wing twist is another possible solution to this span wise flow
condition.
SPAN WISE FLOW AND EARLY
SEPARATION
CRESCENT SHAPED WING
When air flows over a swept wing, it encounters a force
towards the wing tip. At high speeds, this force is too small
to have an effect before the air is past the wing. At lower
speeds, however, this sideways motion becomes more
evident, and as the sideways motion pushes on the air
outboard of it, this spanwise flow becomes more and more
noticeable towards the wing tips. At very low speeds, the
flow can become so sideways that the front-to-back flow,
which is what gives rise to lift, is no longer above the stall
speed of the airfoil, and the wing tips may stall.
A crescent wing reduces this problem. Since the sweep
angle at the tip is less than at the root, the sideways force
is reduced. When considered over the entire width of the
wing, this can greatly reduce the span wise flow, and
thereby lower the speeds where the tips stall
RAM’S HORN VORTEX
 Swept Wings and Tip Stalling

The tendency of a swept back wing to tip stall is due to the induced spanwise flow of
the boundary layer from root to tip. The normal tip vortex joins up with a leading edge
separation bubble to make a large vortex called the "ram's horn" vortex.
Ram's horn vortex works its way inboard along the leading edge.
The downward flow in the vortex exerts pressure on the boundary layer at the tip.
Moving inboard and increasing in size as alpha increases, it can now exert a
downward force on the tailplane.
Because the wing chord line is not in line with the relative airflow there is a pressure
gradient that drives the boundary layer out toward the tips.
This is in the opposite sense to the normal airflow migration on straight wings.
These effects produce a pool of stationary or slow moving low energy boundary layer
at the tip.
This then readily separates into disturbed flow, stalling the tip.
RAM’S HORN
 Lossof lift at the tips moves the CP forward, giving a nose up
pitching moment.

Effective lift production is concentrated inboard and the maximum

downwash now impacts the tailplane, adding to the nose up pitching
moment.

Both forward CP movement and increased downwash at the tailplane

cause the aircraft nose to rise rapidly (pitch-up), further increasing
the angle of attack.
 Pitch-upphenomenon is a very dangerous characteristic of many
high speed, swept wing aircraft.

This can result in inducing a sudden and complete stall with

complete loss of control in pitch from which it may be very difficult,
or even impossible, to recover.

In a manoeuvre, the pitch rate entering the stall is high the pitch-up
may take the aircraft beyond the g limit, causing structural damage.
Alleviating Tip Stalling

It is preferable for wings to stall first at the root because of the

following reasons:

- To make trailing edge controls effective.

- To avoid strong rolling moment.

- To feel the buffet on the tailplane from the disturbed flow over
the inboard wing area.
 Following mechanism can help in alleviating tip stalling:

a) Root Spoilers: These are strips attached to the leading edge of the wing
root at about the position of the stagnation point in normal flight. They have
no effect at low alpha. At high alpha when the stagnation point has moved to
underneath the leading edge, they lie in the airflow that is going over the top
surface of the wing and induce flow separation and a root stall.

b) Geometric Washout: Progressive reduction of wing incidence front root

to tip. This reduces local alpha at the tip in relation to the root, so the root
stalls first.

c) Aerodynamic Washout: The airfoil section at the tip can be changed to a

later stalling section (possibly a leading edge droop) which effectively
combines a camber increase with a decrease of incidence at the tip
 Slats or Slots: Are high lift devices and maintain attached airflow to higher alpha.

e) Boundary Layer Control: Using vortex generators to keep the boundary layer attached to
higher alpha.

f) Wing Fences: To stop the inboard movement of the ram's horn vortex and the outboard
movement of the boundary layer. These are only moderately successful. Unless they are
very large the airflow just climbs over them. A better fix is to generate a high-energy mini-
vortex over the wing. The vortex then acts as a fence or barrier to block movement of both
the ram's horn vortex and the boundary layer.

g) Saw Teeth and Notches: The mini-vortex is formed by cutting a notch in the leading
edge or by having a leading edge extension – a saw-tooth leading edge. A saw tooth leading
edge brings other advantages. The extension can include a camber change, a nose droop
and/or washout, and the extended chord makes the airfoil section relatively thinner,
reducing MCrit and delaying any problems with shockwaves at high Mach number.
LEADING EDGE EXTENSIONS
A leading-edge extension (LEX) is a small extension to an
aircraft wing surface, forward of the leading edge.
The primary reason for adding an extension is to improve
the airflow at high angles of attack and low airspeeds, to
improve handling and delay the stall. A dog tooth can also
improve airflow and reduce drag at higher speeds.
DROOPED LEADING EDGE CUFF
A leading-edge cuff is a fixed aerodynamic wing
device employed on fixed-wing aircraft to
improve the stall and spin characteristics.
DOG TOOTH OR SAW TOOTH
ALL MOVING WING TIP
Stallfences are small chord wise plates that
protrude from the upper wing surface and
leading edge. Their purpose is to disrupt span
wise flow, shielding the outboard wing section
from a developing inboard stall. By keeping the
outboard section from stalling, aileron
effectiveness is maintained during a stall.

STALL FENCE
Substantial increases in the critical Mach number occur when
using an aspect ratio less than about four.

LOW ASPECT RATIO WING

Vortex generators are small plates, mounted along the
surface of a wing and protruding perpendicularly to the
surface.
 Generators feed high-energy air from outside the boundary
layer into the slow moving air inside the boundary layer.
This condition reduces the adverse pressure gradients and
prevents the boundary layer from stalling.
A small increase in the drag-divergence Mach number can be
achieved.
This method is economically beneficial to airplanes designed
for cruise at the highest possible drag-divergence Mach
number.

VORTEX GENERATORS
CO ROTATING TYPE
CONTRA ROTATING TYPE
The angle of the plate causes the air to swirl,
creating a vortex behind it. This effect allows
the air flow to remain "attached" to the
surface even at points where the flow without
a vortex would separate from the surface.
 The airfoil has a flattened upper surface which
delays the formation and strength of the shocks
to a point closer to the trailing edge.
Additionally, the shock- induced separation is
greatly decreased. The critical Mach number is
delayed even up to 0.99.

SUPERCRITICAL AEROFOIL
 The Whitcomb area rule, also called the transonic area
rule, is a design technique used to reduce an aircraft's
drag at transonic and supersonic speeds, particularly
between Mach 0.75 and 1.2.
 arearuling states that minimum transonic and
supersonic drag is obtained when the cross-sectional
area distribution of the airplane along the longitudinal
axis can be projected into a body of revolution which is
smooth and shows no abrupt changes in cross section
along its length. Or, if a graph is made of the cross-
sectional area against body position, the resulting curve
is smooth.

AREA RULE