Northwestern Polytechnical School of Aeronautics

University Institute of Fluid Mechanics

Compressible Aerodynamics

Dr. -Ing Zhenli Chen

Mobile ： 13720523810
Email ： [email protected]

© All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, modified,

re-written, or distributed in any form or by any means,
without the prior written permission of the author.

01/22/2025 Aerodynamics II 1
Schedule
Week Time Topic Key Notes
Tus. 10:10~12:00
2 Thurs. 10:10~12:00 Introductions + Some preliminary Aspects Compressibility, thermodynamics
Tus. 10:10~12:00
3 Thurs. 10:10~12:00 Normal shock waves Normal shock wave relations
Tus. 10:10~12:00
4 Thurs. 10:10~12:00 Oblique Shock and Expansion Waves (I) Oblique shock relations, shock reflections
Tus. 10:10~12:00 Oblique Shock and Expansion Waves (II) Expansion waves
5 Thurs. 10:10~12:00 + Nozzles, Diffusers and Wind Tunnels Steady one-dimensional flow
Tus. 10:10~12:00
6 Thurs. 10:10~12:00 Linearized Subsonic Compressible Flow(I) Velocity potential equation
Tus. 10:10~12:00
7 Thurs. 10:10~12:00 Linearized Subsonic Compressible Flow(II) Critical and supercritical Condition
Tus. 10:10~12:00
8 Thurs. 10:10~12:00 Linearized Supersonic Flow Supersonic airfoils
Tus. 10:10~12:00 Nonlinear Supersonic Flow: Numerical
9 Thurs. 10:10~12:00 Methods (I) Method of characteristics
Tus. 10:10~12:00 Nonlinear Supersonic Flow: Numerical
10 Thurs. 10:10~12:00 Methods (II) Unsteady one-dimensional flow
Tus. 10:10~12:00
11-12 Thurs. 10:10~12:00 Elements of Hypersonic Flow + Reviews Qualitative aspects of hypersonic flow
? Check the Notice Final Written Exam Closed 70%
11 42 studying hours + 2
weeks hours’ examination Compressible Aerodynamics Homework 20%, Oral 10%

01/22/2025 Aerodynamics II 2
Instructions
English Speaking in class
Do not be late! Cell phone closed!
3 time absences, no final examination!
Do not hesitate to ask questions
 If I cannot give you an answer immediately, I will give you after class
 You can interrupt me for any good questions
Textbooks
 (a) J. Anderson, Fundamentals of Aerodynamics, McGraw–Hill, Inc.,
Fithth Edition, 2009.
 (b) J. Anderson, Modern Compressible Flow with historical perspective
, McGraw–Hill, Inc., Second Edition, 1990.
 (c) Ascher H. Shapiro, The Dynamics and Thermodynamics of
Compressible Fluid Flow, The Ronald Press Company, 1953.
 Public Email: [email protected]; pwd: aero2015
01/22/2025 Aerodynamics II 3
Teams
Team Members Study topics Book Team work Requirements
reading
1 Thermodynamics Text Book A+C Presentation
Aerodynamic
of Sonic Flight

2 Normal Shock Text Book A+C Presentation

waves

Present the
3 Oblique Shock & Text Book A+B Presentation materials that
Expansion Waves you learned by
using PPT
4 Linearized Text Book A+B Presentation The team leader
Subsonic is the one
Compressible whose name
Flow over Airfoils with a star*
5 Transonic Flows Text Book A+B Presentation
and Supercritical Aerodynamic
Airfoils of Sonic Flight

6 Linearized Text Book A+C Presentation

Supersonic Flow
over Airfoils

01/22/2025 Aerodynamics II 4
1.0 Introduction
States of Matter

Solid : maintains a fixed volume and shape

 Molecules are packed so closely together
 Their nuclei and electrons form a rigid geometric structure
 Their nuclei and electrons are “glued” together by powerful
intermolecular forces
Liquid : maintains a fixed volume but adapts to the
shape of its container
 Molecule spacing is larger
 Intermolecular forces are still strong
 Movement of molecules → fluidity
01/22/2025 Aerodynamics II 5
1.0 Introduction
Gas : completely fill a container, taking on the same
boundaries as the container
 Molecule spacing is much larger
 Intermolecular forces are much weaker
 Motion of molecules occurs rather freely, throughout the gas
 Plasma: (ionized gases)
 Like gas, is a state of matter that does not have definite shape or
volume
 Unlike gases, plasmas may self-generate magnetic fields and electric
currents, and respond strongly and collectively to electromagnetic
forces
 The particles have electric charges, so plasma can conduct electricity

01/22/2025 Aerodynamics II 6
1.0 Introduction
Fluid Mechanics (Dynamics)
Study of the dynamics of both liquids and gases
Subdivided into three areas: (loosely defined)
 Hydrodynamics --- flow of liquids ( historically water )
 Gas dynamics --- flow of gases ( ideal, real gases )
 Aerodynamics --- flow of air ( mainly under ideal gas assumptions)
Topics
 Existence of solution --- mathematical analysis
 Stability --- transition
 Turbulence --- topological structures and statistics
 Numerical simulation--- numerical scheme and turbulence modeling
 Application --- internal and external flows
Methods
 Experiments
 Mathematical and physical modeling
 Computational -- RANS, LES and DNS etc.

01/22/2025 Aerodynamics II 7
1.0 Introduction
Fluid Mechanics :research topics --- impressions
Existence of solutions for Navier-Stokes Equations
( related to a one-million dollar prize)
Transition

From P. Schlatter , Ph.D. thesis, ETH Zurich, 2005

01/22/2025 Aerodynamics I 8
1.0 Introduction
Turbulence

Free shear layers

Cloud Wake of blunt body

Backward-facing step Wake of sphere CS of BL

01/22/2025 Aerodynamics II 9
1.0 Introduction
Numerical simulation
 Space/time discretization
 Turbulence modeling of Reynolds and subgrid stresses
Applications (Aeronautics)
- 1. 5

-1

- 0. 5
cp 0 0. 2 0. 4 0. 6 0. 8 1
0

0. 5 exp
Spal art - Al l anaras
1

1. 5
x/ c

01/22/2025 Aerodynamics II 10
1.0 Introduction
Object of Aerodynamics --- air
Essential properties
 1cm3 of atmospheric air at ground level contains approximately 2.5 x 1019
molecules ,
 About a thousand of them may be charged (ions) ,
 A typical molecular diameter is 3 x 10-10 m ,
 The average distance between the molecules is about ten times as much,
 The mean free path is of the order of 10-8 m.

01/22/2025 Aerodynamics II 11
1.0 Introduction
Macroscopical properties
 Compressibility
 Viscosity
 Diffusivity, conductivity
 Density, pressure and temperature
 Velocity
Atmosphere
 90% mass under 15 km
 99.9% mass under 50 km
 Temperature characteristics
 Density characteristics
 Pressure characteristics

01/22/2025 Aerodynamics II 12
1.0 Introduction
Until now we
 have no any equations and concepts related to Aerodynamics;
 but know the object to be investigated.
Keep thinking:
 How to deal with the dynamics of some many molecules?
 What happens when air flow over/in an object?
 You can do your thought experiments!
Main objectives in this course are to answer above
questions:
 under certain assumptions,
 especially over airfoils and wings.

01/22/2025 Aerodynamics II 13
1.1 Concepts and assumptions
We will follow the “re-search” process as

Experiments Conceptions Conservation

Real complicate Observations principles Governing
physical world Assumptions and Mathematical Equations
Hypothesis descriptions
Physical models

Un
Ap ders n

Improvement
pl tan t io
ica d olu
ti o i n g S
n

Interpretation
Comparisons

01/22/2025 Aerodynamics II 14
1.1 Concepts and assumptions
We will also follow the “roadmap” to avoid getting lost
Where are we?

01/22/2025 Aerodynamics II 15
1.1.1
Compressibility

01/22/2025 Aerodynamics II 16
1.1.1 Compressibility
 Incompressible: a flow in which the density is constant.
 Compressible: a flow where the density is variable.
 All the flows are compressible, more or less (Truly
incompressible flow, where density is precisely constant,
doesn’t occur in nature.)
 Sound speed: measurement the ratio of density change
due to pressure change under the isentropic condition.
 p 
a   
   s
 Mach number: the ratio of local velocity and sound
speed. V
M
a
01/22/2025 Aerodynamics II 17
1.1.1 Compressibility
 What has flow speed got to do with compressibility? ---
interpretation
 Fluid particles send out signals in the form of acoustic waves to the
surrounding fluid, indicating their motion.
 If there is sufficient time for the sound waves to travel before the fluid
particle arrives, the fluid particles downstream will “hear” the message and
clear out.
 Otherwise, there will be a crush (compression), or even a stampede (shock
wave).

Shocks form
when the
acoustic waves
generated by
the air particles
Schlieren photograph in front of the
body can not
01/22/2025 Aerodynamics II 18
outrun the body.
1.2 Some Aerodynamic Variables
 Aerodynamic variables are something like technical
vocabulary for the physical science and engineering
understanding.
 Density r : Mass of the fluid per unit volume of space as
the volume shrinks to zero but cannot.
dm
  lim
dv 0 dv

dv=elemental volume around the point,

dm=mass of fluid inside dv.

01/22/2025 Aerodynamics II 19
1.2.1 Pressure
 Pressure P: is defined as the normal force exerted by the
continuous matter on a plane placed in the fluid, per unit
area of the plane, always acts normal to the plane
dF
p  lim
dA 0 dA
dA=elemental area at the point on the surface
dF=force on one side of the dA due to pressure
 Strictly speaking, dA can never achieve the limit of zero, because there
would be no molecules at the point in this case. The above limit should be
interpreted as dA approaching a very small value, near zero in terms of our
macroscopic thinking, but sufficiently larger than the average spacing
between molecules on microscopic basis.

01/22/2025 Aerodynamics II 20
1.2.2 Temperature
 Temperature T: A measure of the kinetic energy
associated with the random motion of the molecules that
form the continuous matter.
 It is directly proportional to the average kinetic energy of the molecules of
the fluid
3
KE  kT
2
where KE=kinetic energy, k: Boltzmann constant
T : also a point property.

01/22/2025 Aerodynamics II 21
1.2.3 Velocity

 Velocity: V of a flowing gas (fluid) at any fixed point B
in space is the velocity of a small fluid element as it
sweeps through B.
 It a vector and has three components (u, v, w) in the three
directions ( using orthogonal coordinates) .

01/22/2025 Aerodynamics II 22
 Northwestern Polytechnical School of Aeronautics
University Institute of Fluid Mechanics

If you hesitate too long, you will

miss the opportunity!!

01/22/2025 Aerodynamics II 23
 Northwestern Polytechnical School of Aeronautics
University Institute of Fluid Mechanics

Assignment 0
Read Chapter1 in Book C and Chapter 7 in Book A;
and solve the questions 1.1, 1.4 and 1.5.

01/22/2025 Aerodynamics II 24