Abstract
A numerical method which was developed in a previous report is applied to the prediction of two-dimensional non-steady homentropic flow of air in a specially shaped duct. Previous methods for performing such calculations have not been practical owing to their inherent lack of stability when applied to non-steady flow cases.
These methods have therefore only found application in problems concerning supersonic steady flow.
The present method is sufficiently rapid to allow of its use in the solution of real problems. It is also demonstrated to be free from instability, so that computation of non-steady flows is now possible. Only subsonic homentropic flow free from shock effects is considered, but these limitations are not fundamental.
The method relies on the finite difference relations along bicharacteristics and particle path lines.
A comparison with experiment is presented which appears to indicate that errors introduced by the assumptions are acceptable for practical application, at least to those shapes for which boundary layers do not separate.
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