| Abstract: | The problem of irrotational flow past a wing of finite thickness and finite span can be reduced by Green's formula to the solution of a system of Fredholm equations of the second kind on the surface of the wing [1]. The wake vortex sheet is represented by a free vortex surface. Besides panel methods (see, for example, [2]) there are also methods of approximate solution of this problem based on a preliminary discretization of the solution along the span of the wing in which the two-dimensional integral equations are reduced to a system of one-dimensional integral equations [1], for which numerical methods of solution have already been developed [3–6]. At the same time, a discretization is also realized for the wake vortex sheet along the span of the wing. In the present paper, this idea of numerical solution of the problem of irrotational flow past a wing of finite span is realized on the basis of an approximation of the unknown functions which is piecewise linear along the span. The wake vortex sheet is represented by vortex filaments [7] in the nonlinear problem. In the linear problem, the sheet is represented both by vortex filaments and by a vortex surface. Examples are given of an aerodynamic calculation for sweptback wings of finite thickness with a constriction, and the results of the calculation are also compared with experimental results.Translated from Izvestiya Akademii Nauk SSSR, Mekhanika Zhidkosti i Gaza, No. 6, pp. 124–131, October–December, 1981. |
