Wegener What Makes Airplanes Fly?

History, Science, and Applications of Aerodynamics
Erscheinungsjahr 2012
ISBN: 978-1-4684-0403-6
Verlag: Springer US
Format: PDF
Kopierschutz: 1 - PDF Watermark

E-Book, Englisch, 225 Seiten, Web PDF

Reihe: Physics and Astronomy

Developed for humanities students at Yale and intended for the general reader interested in flight, this book is about aerodynamics in the broadest sense. To put the science into its social context, the author describes (with many illustrations) the history of human attempts to fly and discusses the outlook for future developments, as well as the social impact of commercial aviation. Although only elementary mathematics is used, the underlying science is discussed rigorously, but clearly, and with an emphasis on the visualizable aspects. Thus readers whose background is not in physics will deepen their knowledge of physics, gain an understanding of what keeps the huge airliners up, and appreciate some of the details of the exciting recent developments in technology.

Zielgruppe

Popular/general

Autoren/Hrsg.

Wegener, Peter P.

Inhaltsverzeichnis

1 A Dream Comes True: The Wright Brothers and Their Predecessors.- 1.1 The First Flights at Kitty Hawk.- 1.2 Mythology and Legend.- 1.3 Early Adventures.- 1.4 From Cayley to the Wright Brothers.- 2 Milestones of the Modern Age.- 2.1 Notes on Aeronautical Research.- 2.2 Great Moments in Aviation.- 3 The Nature of Liquids and Gases.- 3.1 Description and Properties.- 3.2 Behavior of Liquids at Rest.- 4 The Atmosphere of the Earth.- 4.1 History and Composition.- 4.2 Structure.- 4.3 Global Circulation.- 5 Air in Motion.- 5.1 Description of Movement: Kinematics.- 5.2 Conservation of Mass and Energy.- 5.3 Viscosity and Turbulence.- 5.4 The Boundary Layer.- 6 Turning to Aerodynamics.- 6.1 How Do We Test Models of Airplanes?.- 6.2 Drag, Lift, and Other Coefficients.- 7 Aerodynamic Drag.- 7.1 What is Drag? Blunt Bodies.- 7.2 The Strange Case of the Sphere.- 7.3 Slender Bodies, Skin Friction, Airfoils.- 7.4 Automobiles, Etc., Etc..- 8 Aerodynamic Lift.- 8.1 Early Experience and Some History.- 8.2 Lift of the Infinitely Extended Wing.- 8.3 The Finite Wing of an Airplane.- 8.4 How Birds Fly and Why We Cannot Copy Them.- 9 Notes on the Whole Airplane.- 9.1 Stability and Control.- 9.2 Propulsion: From Propellers to Rockets.- 10 Toward High Speed: Supersonic and Hypersonic Flight.- 10.1 Pushing the Speed of Sound: Flight at M = 1?.- 10.2 From Supersonic Transports to the Orient Express.- 11 Air Transportation and the Outlook for the Future.- 11.1 The New Traffic Patterns.- 11.2 What Will the Future Bring?.- Appendix 1 Facts from Algebra.- Appendix 2 Model Testing and Similarity.- A2.1 Aircraft Nomenclature and Model Testing.- A2.2 Dimensions and Units.- A2.3 Similarity Parameters and Model Testing.- Appendix 3 History of the Metric System: The SI System and Conversion Tables.- Appendix4 A Guide to Further Reading.- Appendix 5 Study Guide.- Figure and Table Credits.- Name Index.