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ME30032: Aerodynamics

[Page last updated: 04 August 2021]

Academic Year: 2021/2
Owning Department/School: Department of Mechanical Engineering
Credits: 6 [equivalent to 12 CATS credits]
Notional Study Hours: 120
Level: Honours (FHEQ level 6)
Period:
Semester 1
Assessment Summary: EX 100%
Assessment Detail:
  • Examination (EX 100%)
Supplementary Assessment:
ME30032 Re-Assessment Examination (where allowed by programme regulations)
Requisites:
Description: Aims:
To improve the students' understanding of fundamentals of inviscid and viscous flow, principles of lift and drag, turbulence and compressibility.

Learning Outcomes:
After taking this unit the student should be able to:
* Estimate lift for an arbitrary aerofoil cross-sections.
* Calculate the load distributions over an arbitrary three-dimensional wing.
* Apply the boundary layer equations to laminar and turbulent flow.
* Estimate the drag, and predict lift and drag at high Mach numbers.

Skills:
Problem solving and numeracy (taught and assessed).

Content:
Incompressible flow over aerofoils: irrotational flow over a circular cylinder, Kutta-Joukowski theorem, thin aerofoil theory, cambered and flapped aerofoil, vortex panel method, high-lift devices.
Incompressible flow over finite wings: induced drag, lifting-line theory, general lift distribution, lifting-surface theory, delta wings.
Fundamentals of viscous flow: viscosity and stress, fluid acceleration, conservation of mass and momentum.
Boundary layers: boundary layer equations, zero pressure gradient, separation, similarity solutions, arbitrary pressure gradient, boundary layer control in laminar flow, other thin shear flows.
Flow instabilities, transition and turbulence: stability theory, instability over a flat plate, factors affecting instability and transition, turbulent transport of momentum, turbulent boundary layer over a flat plate, turbulent drag reduction and separation control, turbulence measurement.
Lift and drag at high Mach numbers: Mach number regimes, normal and oblique shock waves, expansion waves, shock-expansion theory for supersonic aerofoils, subsonic and transonic flow over aerofoils, linearised supersonic flow, wings and influence of sweepback.
Topics for self study that could be examined.

Programme availability:

ME30032 is Compulsory on the following programmes:

Department of Mechanical Engineering
  • UEME-AFB26 : BEng(Hons) Aerospace Engineering (Year 3)
  • UEME-AKB26 : BEng(Hons) Aerospace Engineering with Year long work placement (Year 4)
  • UEME-AFM04 : MEng(Hons) Aerospace Engineering (Year 3)
  • UEME-AKM04 : MEng(Hons) Aerospace Engineering with Year long work placement (Year 4)

ME30032 is Optional on the following programmes:

Department of Mechanical Engineering
  • UEME-AFM16 : MEng(Hons) Mechanical Engineering (Year 4)
  • UEME-AKM16 : MEng(Hons) Mechanical Engineering with Year long work placement (Year 5)
  • UEME-AFM38 : MEng(Hons) Mechanical Engineering with Manufacturing and Management (Year 4)
  • UEME-AKM38 : MEng(Hons) Mechanical Engineering with Manufacturing and Management with Year long work placement (Year 5)
  • UEME-AFM47 : MEng(Hons) Mechanical with Automotive Engineering (Year 4)
  • UEME-AKM47 : MEng(Hons) Mechanical with Automotive Engineering with Year long work placement (Year 5)

Notes:

  • This unit catalogue is applicable for the 2021/22 academic year only. Students continuing their studies into 2022/23 and beyond should not assume that this unit will be available in future years in the format displayed here for 2021/22.
  • Programmes and units are subject to change in accordance with normal University procedures.
  • Availability of units will be subject to constraints such as staff availability, minimum and maximum group sizes, and timetabling factors as well as a student's ability to meet any pre-requisite rules.
  • Find out more about these and other important University terms and conditions here.