Improvement of the Newtonian Method to Estimate Supersonic Vehicle Drag
Publication: Journal of Aerospace Engineering
Volume 28, Issue 5
Abstract
A simple, easy-to-use method to compute vehicle drag at low and moderate supersonic speeds is presented in this study. A novel version of the Newtonian sine-squared law is proposed and used to compute supersonic pressure or wave drag for various geometries. The new version implicitly includes shockwave contribution not present in the original law. The results obtained are compared with the those found in the literature and discussed in order to estimate the applicability and validity of the method. The method’s suitability for optimization purposes is also briefly considered.
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Information & Authors
Information
Published In
Journal of Aerospace Engineering
Volume 28 • Issue 5 • September 2015
Copyright
© 2014 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: Apr 16, 2014
Accepted: Jul 16, 2014
Published online: Sep 2, 2014
Discussion open until: Feb 2, 2015
Published in print: Sep 1, 2015
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