Question

Wave drag coefficient as derived from linearized theory is independent of the airfoil shape and thickness.

(a) True

(b) False

The question was posed to me by my school principal while I was bunking the class.

I need to ask this question from Application to Supersonic Airfoils topic in portion Subsonic Compressible Flow over Airfoils : Linear Theory, Linearized Supersonic Flow of Aerodynamics

Answer 1

Correct answer is (b) False

To explain I would say: The wave drag as derived from linearized theory is not independent of the airfoil shape. As per the formula given below, it is dependent on gc and gt which are a function of airfoil’s camber and thickness.

cd=\(\frac {4(α^2+g_c^2+g_t^2)}{\sqrt {M_∞^2-1}}\)