Fundamentals of Low Speed

Aerodynamics
School of Astronautics
Northwestern Polytechnical University
For Undergraduates
 Wenjing YANG 杨文婧
[email protected]

• 2009-2014：Doctor, University of New South Wales, Australia

• 2015-2018：Northwestern Polytechnical University, lecturer
• 2018-now：Northwestern Polytechnical University, A.Professor

Research Areas：
• Multiphase flow simulation;

• Simulation of the rocket motor;

• Large scale numerical simulation.

2023/9/26 2
• Introduce yourself.
 About this course
Course hours/credits: 24

Textbook:
Fundamentals of Aerodynamics, John D. Anderson JR,
McGraw-Hill Book Company

Requirements:
Preview + Thinking + Assignment by yourself

Recommendation:
http://www.grc.nasa.gov/WWW/k-12/airplane/guided.htm
 Contents of this course

Lectures: 24 hours

➢Introduction (2hrs)
➢Introductory thoughts (2hrs)
➢Some fundamental principles and equations (8hrs)
➢Inviscid, incompressible flow (6hrs)
➢Incompressible flow over airfoil (6hrs)
 Lecture 1: Introduction
1.1 Main tasks of aerodynamics

1.2 History of aerodynamics

1.3 Categories of aerodynamics

1.4 Aerodynamics for the flight vehicle

1.5 Study methods of aerodynamics

 1.1 Main tasks of Aerodynamics
The dynamics of gases, especially of atmospheric interactions
with moving objects.
The American Heritage
Dictionary of English Language,1969

The term “aerodynamics” is generally

used for problems arising from flight
and other topics involving the flow
of air.
Ludwig Prandtl,1949
Why the helmet of the bicycle racer has a round head
and pointy end?
Why the racer use that gesture?
Why the drag force of air is the ultimate limitation of
the speed of cars and flight vehicles?
Why the cost of fuel is disproportionately high to
achieve the speed increase?
 What are the bright disks in the flow outside the
nozzle of missile, and supersonic jet?

All the problems involving the movements related

to the air go back to the fundamentals of
aerodynamics!
 In Astronautics!
Launch: Rocket
aerodynamics
Suborbital flight: Coupling
of aerodynamics in dilute air
and orbit dynamics
Re-entry module: Low lift
force, drag force to slow down
Space shuttle return: lift
force
……
 How it works?

Study the fundamental mechanism underneath

these phenomenon;
Find the common features and express them in
aerodynamics;
Solve the real aerodynamic problems from the
flight vehicle.
 Lecture 1: Introduction
1.1 Main tasks of aerodynamics

1.2 History of aerodynamics

1.3 Categories of aerodynamics

1.4 Aerodynamics for the flight vehicle

1.5 Study methods of aerodynamics

 1.2 History of Aerodynamics
❑Archimedes‘ principle---- “ On Floating
Bodies”.
❑One of the leading scientists in classical
antiquity, equally honored with Newton and
Gauss
❑Fluid dynamics had no further development
for nearly 1000 years after Archimedes'
principle.

Archimedes
287 BC – 212 BC
Ancient Greek
Mathematician, physicist,
engineer, inventor,
and astronomer.
 One of flying
machine design

Leonardo da Vinci
(1452-1519)
❖Leonardo's experimentation followed clear
Italian polymath : scientific methods, Galileo, Newton and other
Invention, painting, sculpting, scientists who followed him in that, as a
architecture, science, music,
Renaissance Man.
mathematics, engineering,
literature, anatomy, geology, ❖But his theorizing and hypothesizing integrated
astronomy, botany, writing, the arts and particularly painting make him
history, and cartography. unique!
Isaac Newton Gottfried Wilhelm (von) Leibniz
1642-1726 1646-1716
English physicist and mathematician German polymath and philosopher

❑Differential and integral calculus----New world for

Aerodynamics.
❑Aerodynamics into a theoretical development.
 Daniel Bernoulli
1700 - 1782
Swiss mathematician and physicist

❑Bernoulli's principle:
❑Carburetor and Airplane wing---- Two
important technologies of the 20th century
❑Establish Analytical Fluid Dynamics

Leonhard Euler
1707 –1783
Swiss mathematician, physicist,
astronomer, logician and engineer
❑Euler Equations for inviscid flow
❑886 publications
❑Foundation of ballistics and inviscid
Aerodynamics
 Jean-Baptiste le Joseph-Louis Pierre-Simon
Rond d'Alembert Lagrange Laplace
1717 -1783 France 1736 -1813, Italy 1749-1827, France

➢D'Alembert's principle; ➢ Foundation of ➢Laplace equation:

➢Dynamic-statistic; Analytical mechanics; steady incompressible,
➢Early start of Analytical ➢Lagrange approach irrotational flow;
mechanics. ➢Stream function. ➢Potential theory;
➢Sound speed ---air heat
capacity ratio.
 In 19th century, the theory fluid dynamics and experimental
dynamics began to combine, and the most outstanding discoveries
coming from two giant scientists.

Osborne Reynolds ， John William Strutt, Rayleigh

1842－1912, Ireland 1842－1919, England
❖Reynolds number; ❖Theory of Sound
❖Laminar flow and turbulent flow. ❖Rayleigh dimensional analysis
In 19th century, then fundamental theory of fluid dynamics
encountered a gold age.
Viscid flow equation is the most important milestone, called
Navier-Stokes Equations.

Claude-Louis Navier George Gabriel Stokes

1785－1836, France 1819－1903, England
Modern fluid dynamics began in early 20th century, which was
marked by the boundary theory establishment by L. Prandtl.

Plate boundary layer

Ludwig Prandtl,
1875－1953，Germany

A pioneer in the development of boundary layer, thin-airfoils, and lifting-

line theories.
Founder of the modern fluid dynamics and aerodynamics.
1906, Joukowski introduced the circulation theory and
Kutta–Joukowski theorem to calculate the lift force of any
two-dimensional bodies.
He also built the first wind tunnel in Russia.

Nikolay Yegorovich Joukowski，1847－1921, Russia

scientist and a founding father of modern aero- and
hydrodynamics
 Father of the supersonic age!

Theodore von Kármán

，1881－1963，USA

Great contributions to Chinese space program..

Von Kármán-Tsien compressibility correction.

Qian Xuesen (1911－2009)

 Wilbur Wright Oville Wright
（1867~1912） （1871~1948）

➢On December 17, 1903, at Kitty Hawk, Orville Wright flew the first
heavier-than-air machine in a powered, controlled, and sustained flight.
➢The Flyer, constructed of wood, wire, and muslin, went a distance of
36.5m in 12 seconds.
24
 F-15 Dassault Mirage2000

Concorde A380
 Lecture 1: Introduction
1.1 Main tasks of aerodynamics

1.2 History of aerodynamics

1.3 Categories of aerodynamics

1.4 Aerodynamics for the flight vehicle

1.5 Study methods of aerodynamics

 Aerodynamics
Mean-free path λ

Continuum flow λ<<d Low density and free- λ>>d

molecular flows
Viscosity=0?

Viscous flow Inviscid flow

Density=constant?
Incompressible flow

Compressible flow

Ma<1 Ma~1 Ma>1 Ma>5

Subsonic Transonic Supersonic Hypersonic

flow flow flow flow
 Lecture 1: Introduction
1.1 Main tasks of aerodynamics

1.2 History of aerodynamics

1.3 Categories of aerodynamics

1.4 Aerodynamics for the flight vehicle

1.5 Study methods of aerodynamics

 1.4 Aerodynamics for the flight vehicle

Four branches:
1. The prediction of forces and moments on and heat
transfer to, bodies moving through a fluid.
2. Determination of flows moving internally through ducts
3. External aerodynamics
4. Internal aerodynamics
Application of flap (High-lift device).
Drag coefficient of a complete low-speed aircraft.
 Lecture 1: Introduction
1.1 Main tasks of aerodynamics

1.2 History of aerodynamics

1.3 Categories of aerodynamics

1.4 Aerodynamics for the flight vehicle

1.5 Study methods of aerodynamics

 Study methods

Theoretical
Experiments in Experiments on
analysis and
flight mode land
numerical study
 Homework
• Report of one flight vehicle on page 4;
– History of this flight;
– Technical parameters;
– Performance;
– You like it or not? Why? If no, which flight
is your favorite?
– 2-3 pages;
– Formal format. (Start a good habit to
hand out good scientific report!)
Lecturer 2 Introductory thoughts
2.1 Important definitions and concepts

2.2 Dimensional analysis and flow similarity

2.3 Flow statics (p52-61)

2.4 Standard atmosphere