Optimum lifting body shapes in hypersonic flow at high angles of attack (Q1892186)

A variational procedure for the determination of lifting body configurations having a maximum lift-to-drag ratio \(K_{\max}\) in hypersonic flight at high angles of attack \(\alpha\), is proposed. It is based on an analytical solution to the problem for three-dimensional hypersonic flow over small aspect ratio wings using thin shock-layer theory. This reduces the variational problem of finding \(K_{\max}\), and the corresponding optimized wing shape, to the minimization of a linear functional subject to various constraints. The contributions of nonequilibrium thermochemical effects and laminar or turbulent viscous drag effects are also included in the problem formulation.