Computations of unsteady transonic flows

During the last eight years, the subject of computational unsteady transonic aerodynamics has undergone a period of rapid growth. A brief survey of some of the fundamental advances during this period is provided, and some of the research done at NASA Ames Research Center is described in detail. The small-distance potential equation is considered, taking into account features of the unsteady transonic flow, the governing equation, the pressure coefficient, the wake condition, the airfoil tangency condition, the downstream boundary condition, the alternating direction implicit (ADI) algorithm, a grid system, boundary conditions, an airfoil with oscillating trailing edge flap, three types of shock-wave motion, and an example of a simple aeroelastic problem. A description is given of an implicit algorithm for the unsteady full potential equation in conservation form.