Copyright © A. Filippone (1996-2001). All Rights Reserved.
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  • High Speed Aerodynamics

This section include references for general high-speed flows (supersonic and hypersonic). Some texts are applied mathematics, others are practical engineering.

Old books are generally filled with charts, while newer books boast outstanding examples of both experimental and computational advances. Here is a list for all tastes (I had no time to review all of them).

  1. Sibert HW. High Speed Aerodynamics, Prentice-Hall, Inc. New York, 1948.
    Review: Another old book, though still interesting in some chapters reporting transonic effects on aircraft, low aspect- ratio wings, wind tunnels, tables and charts.

  2. Ferri A. Elements of Aerodynamics of Supersonic Flows, The MacMillan Co., New York, 1949.
    Review: Classic book on fundamentals from pioneer of supersonic flow. This is an old edition of a book on high speed aerodynamics; it contains scientific formulation of many problems (shock waves, small disturbance theory, lift and induced drag.)

  3. Bonney AH. Engineering Supersonic Aerodynamics, McGraw-Hill Books, 1950.
    Review: Aifoils, nozzles, diffusers, bodies of revolution, supersonic wind tunnels, and some basics on waves.

  4. Pope A. Aerodynamics of Supersonic Flight, Pitman Publ.Corp., New York, 1950.
    Review: Short book, reports approximate theories and some notes on supersonic wind tunnels. I could go without it …

  5. Ward GN. Linearized Theory of Steady High-Speed Flow, Cambridge Univ. Press, 1954 (Cambridge Monographies in Applied Mechanics)
    Review: The book is a mathematical treatment of high-speed flows, including thin bodies and bodies, plane wings and conical flows. There is a discussion of boundary conditions, solutions, aerodynamic forces and flow-reversal theorems.

  6. Many Authors. Aerodynamic Components of Aircraft at High Speed, Princeton series on High Speed Aerodynamics and Jet Propulsion, Vol. VII, Princeton Univ. Press, 1957.
    Review: One volume of encyclopaedia on high speed aerodynamics, compiled by several authors, includes wings, wing-body, tails, propellers, nozzles, diffusers and more.

  7. Liepmann HW, Roshko A. Elements of Gasdynamics, Wiley, New York, 1957.
    Review: After reading so many books on gasdynamics, one can get tired if he can’t find anything new. Probably I read this one too late …

  8. von Mises R. Mathematical Theory of Compressible Fluid Flow Academic Press, 1958 (posthumous).
    Review: Fundamentals of high-speed flows, including general theorems, conservation equations, waves, shocks, non isentropic flows. Oldie but goldie.

  9. Rotty RM. Indroduction to Gas Dynamics, John Wiley, New York, 1962.
    Review: This is a compact introductory book. A good place to get started, with several worked out examples. There is the usual mix of theory and a concise description of the method of characteristics.

  10. Hayes WD, Probstein RF. Hypersonic Flow Theory, Academic Press, New York, 1965 (in 2 volumes).
    Review: An important work from two of the pioneers of high speed theory.

  11. Cheers, F. Elements of Compressible Flow, John Wiley and Sons, Ltd, London, 1963.
    Review: This is a relatively short book based on lecture notes. It is not distinguishable from many other on the subject, but it is useful to the student to get started.

  12. Cox RN, Crabtree LF. Elements of Hypersonic Aerodynamics, Academic Press, New York, 1965.
    Review: Concise and valuable book for understanding the basic features of hypersonic flows, both at physical and a mathematical level. Good figures, no frenzies. Recommended.

  13. Carafoli E. Wing Theory in Supersonic Flow, Pergamon Press, 1969.
    Review: A tough book, very mathematical, of little use these days, but with interesting discussion of wings, even in yawed flow.

  14. Chapman AJ, Walker WF. Introductory Gas Dynamics, HRW Series in Mech. Engineering, Holst-Rinehart and Winst., 1971.

  15. Clarke JF, McChesney M. Dynamics of Relaxing Gases, Butterworth, London, 1976.
    Review: The book explains the principles of gas dynamics, and has extensive treatment of molecular collision processes, non-equilibrium theory, recombination and molecular reactions.

  16. Zucrow MJ, Hoffman JD. Gas Dynamics, John Wiley, 1976 (2 volumes).
    Review: This is a vast treatise for advanced learners. It starts from the fundamental equations of compressible flows, it considers shock waves and the corresponding discontinuities. It has some essential numerical methods and simple algorithms from the early days of computer programming. Vol. 2 is devoted to multi-dimensional flows. Another monumental work.

  17. Becker, JV. The High Speed Frontier – Case Histories of 4 NACA Programs. NASA SP-445, Washington DC, 1980.
    Review: It’s the history of four major American projects: high speed airfoils (including supercritical wing sections), high speed wind tunnels, high speed propellers, and wing body combinations (including supersonic area rule).

  18. Moulden TH. Fundamentals of Transonic Flow, John Wiley, 1984.
    Review: A good book about fundamentals, with a precise mathematical notation, and useful sumaries in tabular format. I like particularly the chapter on transonic phenomenology and the transonic viscous flow treatment. Other topics include the classical theories of linearized small perturbation flow.

  19. Seddon J, Goldsmith EL. Intake Aerodynamics, Collins, London, 1985.
    Review: Air intakes for subsonic and supersonic aerodynamics, with excellent discussion of concepts, including: pressure recovery, transonic effects, lip separation, internal and external supersonic compression, internal and external drag losses, distortion and swirl, intakes at incidence and wind tunnel testing.

  20. AGARD, Aerothermodynamics of Hypersonic Vehicles, AGARD R-761, 1988.
    Review: Collection of lecture notes, reporting modern topics in hypersonic research, including wind tunnel instrumentation, computational techniques (CFD), real gas effects. Extensive bibliography.

  21. Anderson JD. Modern Compressible Flow with Historical Perspective, McGraw-Hill, 1990.
    Review: Almost all chapters include an historical notes on thinking and progress, or a biographical sketch (Prandtl, Glauert, etc). The book otherwise contains all the traditional items of a high speed aerodynamics book, except for a few chapters on the properties of high temperature gases and flows.

  22. Bertin JJ. Hypersonic Aerodynamics, AIAA Educational Series, AIAA 1994.
    Review: This is an exhaustive introductory book to hypersonic flows. There are clearly exmplained the characteristics and the basic equations. There are notes on experimental methods, stagnation flowfields, boundary layers convective heat transfer, aerodynamic force and moments.

  23. AGARD, Aerothermodynamics and Propulsion Integration for Hypersonic Vehicles Special Course Notes, AGARD R-813, May 1996.

  24. Fluid Dynamics Research on Supersonic Aircraft, NATO RTO-EN-4 (formerly AGARD), November 1998.
    Review: State-of-the-art research in supersonic aerodynamics. Recommended reading to understand whether or not there will ever be a successor to the Concorde. This work has a particular quality: to highlight some difficulties related to sonic boom problems and other environmental concerns.

  25. Chapman CJ. High Speed Flow, Cambridge Univ. Press (Cambridge Texts in Applied Mathematics, 23), Cambridge, 2000.
    Review: A compact modern book on high speed flow, with a good bibliography and a guide to high speed aerodynamic research from the early days. The book presents the basics of aero-thermodynamics, airfoils in supersonic flow, shock waves (reflections and intersection) and the hodograph method.

  26. Truitt RW. Hypersonic Aerodynamics, The Ronald Press, New York, 1959.

  27. Dorrance WH. Viscous Hypersonic Flow, McGraw-Hill, New York, 1962.

  28. Hankey WL. Re-Entry Aerodynamics, AIAA Educational Series, 1988.

  29. Anderson JD. Hypersonic and High Temperature Gas Dynamics, McGraw-Hill, New York, 1989.

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Copyright © A. Filippone (1996-2001). All Rights Reserved.