The flow over a 'high' aspect ratio gothic wing at supersonic speeds

Results are presented of an experimental investigation on a nonconical wing which supports an attached shock wave over a region of the leading edge near the vertex and a detached shock elsewhere. The shock detachment point is determined from planform schlieren photographs of the flow field and discrepancies are shown to exist between this and the one calculated by applying the oblique shock equations normal to the leading edge. On a physical basis, it is argued that the shock detachment has to obey the two-dimensional law normal to the leading edges. From this, and from other measurements on conical wings, it is thought that the planform schlieren technique may not be particularly satisfactory for detecting shock detachment. Surface pressure distributions are presented and are explained in terms of the flow over related delta wings which are identified as a vertex delta wing and a local delta wing.