NACA-RM-A53H17

Abstract

INTODUCTION <br>Recent experimental results (refs. 1,2, and 3) have demonstrated that the transonic zero-lift drag rise of wing-body combinations is primarily a function of the magnitude and rate of change of cross-sectional are along the longitudinal axis. This concept was utilized in the referenced tests to reduce the drag rise by indenting the body of a wing-body combination. These experimental results may be considered to be a qualitative verification of the linear theory as developed in references 4 through 8. <br>The purpose of this report is to examine the quantitative relation-ship between the theory and experimental data from free-fall tests of several wing-body combinations. In addition, the implications of the theory are examine with regard to modification of the area distribution of a configuration to keep the drag rise low over a selected range of transonic Mach numbers. <br>This investigation utilized test data covering a Mach number range of M= 0.8 to M=1.14 and Reynolds number range of 2,500,000 to 17,000,000, depending upon the wing mean aerodynamic chord of the configuration tested.