The drag increase at high subsonic speeds

Abstract

The drag increase beyond the critical Mach number is calculated by modifying the supersonic part of the Karman-Tsien pressure distribution on a profile. This is possible when the supersonic regions are not too large. The formula giving the modified pressure distribution is derived very roughly. It may give only one of the main effects appearing when supersonic speeds occur in the flow, and may be changed and calculated more exactly later. For the calculation of the drag increase the formula is sufficient and the agreement of theory and experiment in all examples calculated is good. Within the approximation of the theory the lift coefficient is practically unchanged. Calculations of the centre of pressure are not made.