Essentials of Supersonic Commercial Aircraft Conceptual Design

Egbert Torenbeek, PhD, is Professor Emeritus of Aircraft Design at Delft University of Technology. He graduated as an engineer in 1961 at TU Delft and in 1964 he became responsible for teaching the Aircraft Preliminary Design course at the department of Aerospace Engineering. After a sabbatical at Lockheed Georgia Company, he became a senior lecturer and full professor of the Aircraft Design chair at TU Delft, initiating research and teaching in computer-assisted aircraft design.

• Foreword xiSeries Preface xvPreface xviiAcknowledgements xix1 History of Supersonic Transport Aircraft Development 11.1 Concorde’s Development and Service 21.2 SST Development Program 41.3 Transonic Transport Configuration Studies 71.4 US High Speed Research and Development Programs 81.5 European Supersonic Research Program 91.6 A Market for a Supersonic Commercial Aircraft? 111.6.1 Why Fly Supersonically? 111.6.2 Requirements and Operations 121.6.3 Block Speed, Productivity, and Complexity 13Bibliography 152 The Challenges of High-speed Flight 172.1 Top Level Requirements (TLR) 182.2 The Need for Speed 192.3 Cruise Speed Selection 202.4 Aerodynamic Design Considerations 232.4.1 Fuel and Flight Efficiency 232.4.2 Aerodynamic Efficiency 242.4.3 Power Plant Efficiency 252.4.4 Flight Efficiency 262.4.5 Cruise Altitude 27Bibliography 283 Weight Prediction, Optimization, and Energy Efficiency 293.1 The Unity Equation 293.2 Early Weight Prediction 303.2.1 Empty Weight 303.3 Fuel Weight 323.3.1 Mission Fuel 333.3.2 Reserve Fuel 343.4 Take-off Weight and the Weight Growth Factor 343.5 Example of an Early Weight Prediction 353.5.1 MTOW Sensitivity 363.6 Productivity and Energy Efficiency 383.6.1 Range for Maximum Productivity 393.6.2 Energy Efficiency 403.6.3 Conclusion 41Bibliography 424 Aerodynamic Phenomena in Supersonic Flow 454.1 Compressibility of Atmospheric Air 454.1.1 Speed of Sound and Mach Number 464.1.2 Compressible and Incompressible Flows 474.2 Streamlines and Mach Waves 474.2.1 SoundWaves 484.3 Shock Waves 504.4 Normal Shock Waves 514.4.1 Effects of Normal Shock Waves 524.5 Planar Oblique Shock Waves 534.6 Curved and Detached Shock waves 564.7 Expansion Flows 574.8 Shock-expansion Technique 594.9 Leading-edge Delta Vortices 604.10 Sonic Boom 61Bibliography 625 Thin Wings in Two-dimensional Flow 655.1 Small Perturbation Flow 655.1.1 Linearized Velocity Potential Equation 665.1.2 Pressure Coefficient 675.1.3 Lift Gradient 685.1.4 Pressure Drag 695.1.5 Symmetric Airfoils with Minimum Pressure Drag 705.1.6 Total Drag 715.1.7 Center of Pressure 725.1.8 Concluding Remarks 72Bibliography 736 Flat Wings in Inviscid Supersonic Flow 756.1 Classification of Edge Flows 766.2 Linear Theory for Three-dimensional Inviscid Flow 766.2.1 Flow Reversal Theorems 776.2.2 Constant-chord Straight Wings 776.2.3 Constant-chord Swept Wings 796.3 Slender Wings 806.4 Delta Wing 816.4.1 Supersonic Leading Edge 826.4.2 Subsonic Leading Edge 836.5 Arrow Wings 866.6 Slender Delta and Arrow Wing Varieties 87Bibliography 887 Aerodynamic Drag in Cruising Flight 917.1 Categories of Drag Contributions 917.1.1 Miscellaneous Drag Terms and the Concept Drag Area 937.1.2 Analysis Methods 937.2 Skin Friction Drag 947.2.1 Friction Coefficient 957.2.2 Flat-plate Analogy 967.2.3 Form Drag 977.3 Slender Body Wave Drag 977.3.1 Conical Forebody Pressure Drag 977.3.2 Von Kármán’s Ogive 987.3.3 Sear–Haack Body 997.4 Zero-lift Drag of Flat Delta Wings 1017.4.1 Drag due to Lift 1027.4.2 Vortex-induced Drag 1037.4.3 Wave Drag Due to Lift 1047.5 Wing-alone Glide Ratio 1057.5.1 Notched Trailing Edges 1057.5.2 Zero-lift Drag 1067.5.3 Induced Drag 1067.5.4 Minimum Glide Ratio 1077.6 Fuselage-alone Drag 1097.6.1 Pressure Drag 1097.6.2 Skin Friction Drag 1107.6.3 Fuselage Slenderness Ratio 111Bibliography 1128 Aerodynamic Efficiency of SCV Configurations 1158.1 Interaction Between Configuration Shape and Drag 1158.2 Configuration (A) 1178.2.1 Slenderness ratio and lift coefficient for minimum drag 1198.2.2 Cruise Altitude for Minimum Drag 1208.3 Configuration B 1218.3.1 Glide Ratio 1228.3.2 Cruise Altitude and Wing Loading 1238.4 Full-configuration Drag 1248.4.1 Configuration Glide Ratio 1258.4.2 Notch Ratio Selection 1268.5 Selection of the General Arrangement 1278.5.1 Fore-plane Versus After-tail 1278.5.2 Application of the Area Rule 128Bibliography 1309 Aerodynamics of Cambered Wings 1339.1 Flat Delta Wing Lift Gradient and Induced Drag 1349.1.1 Achievable Leading-edge Thrust 1389.2 Warped Wings 138Bibliography 14010 Oblique Wing Aircraft 14310.1 Advantages of the Oblique Wing 14410.2 Practical Advantages of the Oblique Wing 14510.3 Oblique Wing Transport Aircraft 14610.4 Oblique Flying Wing (OFW) 14710.4.1 OFW Flying Qualities and Disadvantages 14810.5 Conventional and OWB Configurations Compared 14910.5.1 Practical Side-effects 15010.6 Conclusion 152Bibliography 153Index 155