John L. Hess

Bio: John L. Hess is an academic researcher. The author has contributed to research in topics: Potential flow & Kutta condition. The author has an hindex of 1, co-authored 1 publications receiving 209 citations.

Calculation of potential flow about arbitrary three-dimensional lifting bodies

Abstract: : The report presents a complete discussion of a method for calculating potential flow about arbitrary lifting three-dimensional bodies without the approximations inherent in lifting-surface theories. The basic formulation of three-dimensional lifting flow is pursued at some length and some difficulties are pointed out. All aspects of the flow calculation method are discussed, and alternate procedures for various aspects of the calculation are compared and evaluated. Particular emphasis is placed on the handling of the bound vorticity and the application of the Kutta condition, and it is concluded that the approach used in the method of this report has certain advantages over alternate schemes used by other existing methods. A considerable number of calculated results for various configurations are presented to illustrate the power and scope of the method.

Computational Aerodynamics Development and Outlook

Abstract: Introduction E is an honor and challenge to present the Dryden Lecture ..i Research for 1979. Since my topic concerns a new trend in fluid mechanics, it should not be surprising that some aspects of this paper involve basic mechanics of turbulence, a field enriched by numerous contributions of Dr. Hugh L. Dryden. Having worked in related fields of fluid mechanics during past years, and long respected both his professional contributions and personal integrity, it is a special pleasure to present this Dryden lecture. The field of computational fluid dynamics during recent years has developed sufficiently to initiate some changes in traditional methods of aerodynamic design. Both computer power and numerical algorithm efficiency are simultaneously improving with time, while the energy resource for driving large wind tunnels is becoming progressively more valuable. Partly for these reasons it has been advocated that the impact of computational aerodynamics on future methods of aircraft design will be profound. ' Qualitatively, the changes taking place are not foreign to past experience in other fields of engineering. For example, trajectory mechanics and neutron transport mechanics already have been largely revolutionized by the computer. Computations rather than experiments now provide the principal source of detailed information in these fields. The amount of reactor experimentation required has been much reduced over former years; experiments now are performed mainly on clear, physically describable arrays of elements aimed at further confirmation of computational techniques; and better designs are achieved than with former experimental methods alone. Similar changes in the relative roles of experimental and computational aerodynamics are anticipated in the future. There are three compelling motivations for vigorously developing computational aerodynamics. One is to provide important new technological capabilities that cannot be provided by experimental facilities. Because of their fundamental limitations, wind tunnels have rarely been able to simulate, for example, Reynolds numbers of aircraft flight, flowfield temperatures around atmosphere entry vehicles, aerodynamics of probes entering planetary atmospheres, aeroelastic distortions present in flight, or the propulsiveexternal flow interaction in flight. In addition, transonic wind tunnels are notoriously limited by wall and support interference; and stream nonuniformities of wind tunnels severely affect laminar-turbulent transition. Moreover, the dynamic-aerodynamic interaction between vehicle motion in flight and transition-dependent separated flow also is inaccessible to wind-tunnel simulation. In still different ways ground facilities for turbomachinery experiments are limited in their ability, for example, to simulate flight inlet-flow nonuniformities feeding into a compressor stage, or to determine detailed flowfields between rotating blades. Numerical flow simulations, on the other hand, have none of these fundamental limitations, but have their own: computer speed and memory. These latter limitations are fewer, but previously have been much more restrictive overall because the full Navier-Stokes equations are of such great complexity that only highly truncated and approximate forms could be handled in the past. In recent years the Navier-Stokes equations have begun to yield under computational attack with the largest current computers. Since the fundamental limitations of computational speed and memory are rapidly decreasing with time, whereas the fundamental limitations of experimental facilities are not, numerical simulations offer the potential of mending many ills of wind-tunnel and turbomachinery experiments, and of providing thereby important new technical capabilities for the aerospace industry. A second compelling motivation concerns energy conservation. The large developmental wind tunnels require large amounts of energy, whereas computers require comparatively

Subsonic Potential Aerodynamics for Complex Configurations: A General Theory

Abstract: A general theory of subsonic potential aerodynamic flow around a lifting body having arbitrary shape and motion is presented. By using the Green function method, an integral representation for the velocity potential is obtained for both supersonic and subsonic flow. Under the small perturbation assumption, the potential at any point in the field depends only upon the values of the potential and its normal derivative on the surface of the body. On the surface of the body, this representation reduces to an integro-differential equation relating the potential and its normal derivative (which is known from the boundary conditions) on the surface. The theory is applied to finite-thickness wings in subsonic steady and oscillatory flows.

Steady and Oscillatory Subsonic and Supersonic Aerodynamics around Complex Configurations

Abstract: A general formulation for steady and oscillatory, subsonic and supersonic, potential linearized aerodynamic flows around complex configurations is presented. A linear integral equation relating the unknown potential on the surface of the body to the known downwash is used. The formulation is applied to the analysis of flowfields around wings and wing-body combinations. The surface is divided into small quadrilateral elements which are approximated with hyperboloidal surfaces. The potential is assumed to be constant within each element. This yields a set of linear algebraic equations. The coefficients are evaluated analytically. Numerical results for steady and oscillatory, subsonic and supersonic flows indicate that the method, is not only more general and flexible than other available methods, but is also fast, accurate, and in excellent agreement with existing results.