Unsteady compressible potential flow around lifting bodies - Generaltheory

Abstract

The general theory of potential aerodynamic flow around a lifting body having arbitrary shape and motion is presented. By using the Green's function method, an integral representation for the velocity potential is obtained for both supersonic and subsonic flow. This representation reduces properly to the lifting surface theories as well as to other classical mathematical formulas. Under small perturbation assumption, the potential at any point P in the field depends only upon the values of the potential and its normal derivative on the surface of the body. Hence, if the point P approaches the surface of the body, the representation reduces to an integrodifferential equation relating the potential and its normal derivative on the surface of the body.