Bodies of minimal wave drag in a swirling hypersonic flow (Q797411)

The problem of determining three-dimensional bodies of minimal wave drag in a hypersonic swirling flow which rotates with constant angular velocity about the length coordinate direction is discussed. The drag of the body is described in a cylindrical coordinate system using the so called Newton theory for the pressure coefficient and establishing an expression of the surface of the body. From the mathematical point of view a variational problem arises. It is shown that this problem can be split into two parts, namely the variations of the longitudinal and transverse contours of the body which are shown to be independent. The procedures of solving these two variational problems are discussed in detail. There exist some different classes of bodies distinguished by the number of nonsymmetric of symmetric cycles the transverse contour consists of. The resulting slender bodies of minimal wave drag have symmetric cycles. They are compared with the equivalent bodies of revolution with the same longitudinal contour and are compared with equivalent optimal bodies in a nonrotating flow.