Shock-Tube Studies of Transonic Flow over Wedge Profiles

Abstract

The position of the sonic line and the pressure distribution over the wedge have been calculated from the density fields measured with a Mach-Zehnder interferometer. For a given wedge, identical pressure distributions are found over a considerable range of supersonic flows. These results suggest simple formulas giving the drag coefficient for each wedge angle which are expected to hold in most of the transonic speed range.