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The BERP rotor blade design was developed under the British Experimental Rotor Programme . The initial BERP rotor blades were developed in the late 1970s to mid-1980s as a joint venture programme between Westland Helicopters and the Royal Aircraft Establishment (RAE), with Professor Martin Lowson as a co-patentee. The goal was to increase the helicopters lifting-capability and maximum speed using new designs and materials.

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95-400: As objects approach the speed of sound , shock waves form in areas where the local flow is accelerated above the speed of sound. This normally occurs on curved areas, like cockpit windows, leading edges of the wing, and similar areas where Bernoulli's principle accelerates the air. These shock waves radiate away a great amount of energy that has to be supplied by the engines, which appears to

190-444: A l = γ ⋅ p ρ = γ ⋅ R ⋅ T M = γ ⋅ k ⋅ T m , {\displaystyle c_{\mathrm {ideal} }={\sqrt {\gamma \cdot {p \over \rho }}}={\sqrt {\gamma \cdot R\cdot T \over M}}={\sqrt {\gamma \cdot k\cdot T \over m}},} where This equation applies only when

285-408: A Lamb–Oseen vortex . A rotational vortex – a vortex that rotates in the same way as a rigid body – cannot exist indefinitely in that state except through the application of some extra force, that is not generated by the fluid motion itself. It has non-zero vorticity everywhere outside the core. Rotational vortices are also called rigid-body vortices or forced vortices. For example, if a water bucket

380-432: A boundary layer which causes a local rotation of fluid at the wall (i.e. vorticity ) which is referred to as the wall shear rate. The thickness of this boundary layer is proportional to √ ( v t ) {\displaystyle \surd (vt)} (where v is the free stream fluid velocity and t is time). If the diameter or thickness of the vessel or fluid is less than the boundary layer thickness then

475-402: A dispersive medium , the speed of sound is a function of sound frequency, through the dispersion relation . Each frequency component propagates at its own speed, called the phase velocity , while the energy of the disturbance propagates at the group velocity . The same phenomenon occurs with light waves; see optical dispersion for a description. The speed of sound is variable and depends on

570-450: A vortex ( pl. : vortices or vortexes ) is a region in a fluid in which the flow revolves around an axis line, which may be straight or curved. Vortices form in stirred fluids, and may be observed in smoke rings , whirlpools in the wake of a boat, and the winds surrounding a tropical cyclone , tornado or dust devil . Vortices are a major component of turbulent flow . The distribution of velocity, vorticity (the curl of

665-471: A CFD code based on the Navier-Stokes equations , has shown that this "notch" actually helps to further reduce the strength of shock waves on the blade. Thus, an unexpected by-product of the notch over and above the basic effect of sweep is to help to reduce compressibility effects even further. We must also recognize that a swept tip geometry of this sort will not necessarily improve the performance of

760-453: A compression wave in a fluid is determined by the medium's compressibility and density . In solids, the compression waves are analogous to those in fluids, depending on compressibility and density, but with the additional factor of shear modulus which affects compression waves due to off-axis elastic energies which are able to influence effective tension and relaxation in a compression. The speed of shear waves, which can occur only in solids,

855-410: A computation of the speed of sound in air as 979 feet per second (298 m/s). This is too low by about 15%. The discrepancy is due primarily to neglecting the (then unknown) effect of rapidly fluctuating temperature in a sound wave (in modern terms, sound wave compression and expansion of air is an adiabatic process , not an isothermal process ). This error was later rectified by Laplace . During

950-407: A convex surface. A unique example of severe geometric changes is at the trailing edge of a bluff body where the fluid flow deceleration, and therefore boundary layer and vortex formation, is located. Another form of vortex formation on a boundary is when fluid flows perpendicularly into a wall and creates a splash effect. The velocity streamlines are immediately deflected and decelerated so that

1045-414: A delta wing aircraft). This mechanism is enhanced by making the leading edge of the aerofoil in this region relatively sharp. As the angle of attack is increased, then this vortex begins to develop from a point further and further forward along the leading edge, following the planform geometry into the more moderately swept region. At a sufficiently high angle of attack, the vortex will initiate close to

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1140-421: A limit on the forward speed of a helicopter; at some point the forward speed means the rearward-moving blades are below their stall speed. The point where this occurs can be improved by making the rotor spin faster, but then it faces the additional problem that at high speeds the forward-moving blades are approaching the speed of sound and begin to suffer from wave drag and other negative effects. One solution to

1235-462: A non-dimensional radius r/R=cos 30 = 86% radius. The area distribution of this tip region is configured to ensure that the mean tip centre of pressure is located on the elastic axis of the blade. This is done by offsetting the location of the local 1/4- chord axis forward at 86% radius. This offset also produces a discontinuity in the leading edge (referred to as a notch), which results in other interesting effects. For example, recent calculations using

1330-538: A number of helicopter types from the 1970s and 80s, notably the UH-60 Blackhawk and the AH-64 Apache . However, to ensure that centre of gravity or aerodynamic centre movements aft of the blade elastic axis (which can introduce undesirable aerodynamic and inertial couplings) are not experienced, then the tip must be configured with an area shift forward. This can be kept to a minimum by recognizing that

1425-486: A pipe aligned with the x {\displaystyle x} axis and with a cross-sectional area of A {\displaystyle A} . In time interval d t {\displaystyle dt} it moves length d x = v d t {\displaystyle dx=v\,dt} . In steady state , the mass flow rate m ˙ = ρ v A {\displaystyle {\dot {m}}=\rho vA} must be

1520-442: A single wingtip vortex , less than one wing chord downstream of that edge. This phenomenon also occurs with other active airfoils , such as propeller blades. On the other hand, two parallel vortices with opposite circulations (such as the two wingtip vortices of an airplane) tend to remain separate. Vortices contain substantial energy in the circular motion of the fluid. In an ideal fluid this energy can never be dissipated and

1615-459: A single given gas (assuming the molecular weight does not change) and over a small temperature range (for which the heat capacity is relatively constant), the speed of sound becomes dependent on only the temperature of the gas. In non-ideal gas behavior regimen, for which the Van der Waals gas equation would be used, the proportionality is not exact, and there is a slight dependence of sound velocity on

1710-472: Is a significant increase in the operational flight envelope. The initial programme, BERP I, studied the design, manufacture and qualification of composite rotor blades. This resulted in producing new main rotor and tail rotor blades for the Westland Sea King . Following on from the first, the second programme, BERP II, analysed advanced aerofoil sections for future rotor blades. This fed into

1805-423: Is added to that of the tips, meaning that the blades on the forward-moving side of the rotor sees significantly higher airspeed than the rearward-moving side, causing a dissymmetry of lift . This requires changes in the angle of attack of the blades to ensure the lift is similar on both sides, in spite of the great differences in relative airflow. It is the ability of the rotor to change its lift pattern that puts

1900-419: Is associated with compression and decompression in the direction of travel, and is the same process in gases and liquids, with an analogous compression-type wave in solids. Only compression waves are supported in gases and liquids. An additional type of wave, the transverse wave , also called a shear wave , occurs only in solids because only solids support elastic deformations. It is due to elastic deformation of

1995-402: Is called a vortex tube . In general, vortex tubes are nested around the axis of rotation. The axis itself is one of the vortex lines, a limiting case of a vortex tube with zero diameter. According to Helmholtz's theorems , a vortex line cannot start or end in the fluid – except momentarily, in non-steady flow, while the vortex is forming or dissipating. In general, vortex lines (in particular,

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2090-417: Is called the object's Mach number . Objects moving at speeds greater than the speed of sound ( Mach 1 ) are said to be traveling at supersonic speeds . In Earth's atmosphere, the speed of sound varies greatly from about 295 m/s (1,060 km/h; 660 mph) at high altitudes to about 355 m/s (1,280 km/h; 790 mph) at high temperatures. Sir Isaac Newton 's 1687 Principia includes

2185-471: Is demonstrated by smoke rings and exploited in vortex ring toys and guns . Two or more vortices that are approximately parallel and circulating in the same direction will attract and eventually merge to form a single vortex, whose circulation will equal the sum of the circulations of the constituent vortices. For example, an airplane wing that is developing lift will create a sheet of small vortices at its trailing edge. These small vortices merge to form

2280-412: Is determined by the medium's compressibility , shear modulus , and density. The speed of shear waves is determined only by the solid material's shear modulus and density. In fluid dynamics , the speed of sound in a fluid medium (gas or liquid) is used as a relative measure for the speed of an object moving through the medium. The ratio of the speed of an object to the speed of sound (in the same medium)

2375-811: Is determined simply by the solid material's shear modulus and density. The speed of sound in mathematical notation is conventionally represented by c , from the Latin celeritas meaning "swiftness". For fluids in general, the speed of sound c is given by the Newton–Laplace equation: c = K s ρ , {\displaystyle c={\sqrt {\frac {K_{s}}{\rho }}},} where K s = ρ ( ∂ P ∂ ρ ) s {\displaystyle K_{s}=\rho \left({\frac {\partial P}{\partial \rho }}\right)_{s}} , where P {\displaystyle P}

2470-577: Is fully excited (i.e., molecular rotation is fully used as a heat energy "partition" or reservoir); but at the same time the temperature must be low enough that molecular vibrational modes contribute no heat capacity (i.e., insignificant heat goes into vibration, as all vibrational quantum modes above the minimum-energy-mode have energies that are too high to be populated by a significant number of molecules at this temperature). For air, these conditions are fulfilled at room temperature, and also temperatures considerably below room temperature (see tables below). See

2565-460: Is never removed, it would consist of circular motion forever. A key concept in the dynamics of vortices is the vorticity , a vector that describes the local rotary motion at a point in the fluid, as would be perceived by an observer that moves along with it. Conceptually, the vorticity could be observed by placing a tiny rough ball at the point in question, free to move with the fluid, and observing how it rotates about its center. The direction of

2660-457: Is reached (in the vicinity of 22 degrees!) when the flow will grossly separate. For a conventional tip planform, a similar gross flow breakdown would be expected to occur at about 12 degrees local angle of attack. Therefore, the BERP blade manages to make the best of both worlds by reducing compressibility effects on the advancing blade and delaying the onset of retreating blade stall. The net result

2755-444: Is spun at constant angular speed w about its vertical axis, the water will eventually rotate in rigid-body fashion. The particles will then move along circles, with velocity u equal to wr . In that case, the free surface of the water will assume a parabolic shape. In this situation, the rigid rotating enclosure provides an extra force, namely an extra pressure gradient in the water, directed inwards, that prevents transition of

2850-399: Is started, a vortex usually forms ahead of each propeller , or the turbofan of each jet engine . One end of the vortex line is attached to the engine, while the other end usually stretches out and bends until it reaches the ground. When vortices are made visible by smoke or ink trails, they may seem to have spiral pathlines or streamlines. However, this appearance is often an illusion and

2945-610: Is the case in tornadoes and in drain whirlpools. A vortex with helical streamlines is said to be solenoidal . As long as the effects of viscosity and diffusion are negligible, the fluid in a moving vortex is carried along with it. In particular, the fluid in the core (and matter trapped by it) tends to remain in the core as the vortex moves about. This is a consequence of Helmholtz's second theorem . Thus vortices (unlike surface waves and pressure waves ) can transport mass, energy and momentum over considerable distances compared to their size, with surprisingly little dispersion. This effect

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3040-430: Is the distance travelled per unit of time by a sound wave as it propagates through an elastic medium. More simply, the speed of sound is how fast vibrations travel. At 20 °C (68 °F), the speed of sound in air is about 343  m/s (1,125  ft/s ; 1,235  km/h ; 767  mph ; 667  kn ), or 1  km in 2.91 s or one mile in 4.69 s . It depends strongly on temperature as well as

3135-472: Is the pressure and the derivative is taken isentropically, that is, at constant entropy s . This is because a sound wave travels so fast that its propagation can be approximated as an adiabatic process , meaning that there isn't enough time, during a pressure cycle of the sound, for significant heat conduction and radiation to occur. Thus, the speed of sound increases with the stiffness (the resistance of an elastic body to deformation by an applied force) of

3230-459: The Mach number is varying along the blade so we do not have to use a constant sweep angle, thereby minimizing the amount of forward area shift. The methodology used in the design of the BERP blade ensures that the effective Mach number normal to the blade remains nominally constant over the swept region. The maximum sweep employed on the large part of the BERP blade is 30 degrees and the tip starts at

3325-446: The ozone layer . This produces a positive speed of sound gradient in this region. Still another region of positive gradient occurs at very high altitudes, in the thermosphere above 90 km . For an ideal gas, K (the bulk modulus in equations above, equivalent to C , the coefficient of stiffness in solids) is given by K = γ ⋅ p . {\displaystyle K=\gamma \cdot p.} Thus, from

3420-548: The springs , and the mass of the spheres. As long as the spacing of the spheres remains constant, stiffer springs/bonds transmit energy more quickly, while more massive spheres transmit energy more slowly. In a real material, the stiffness of the springs is known as the " elastic modulus ", and the mass corresponds to the material density . Sound will travel more slowly in spongy materials and faster in stiffer ones. Effects like dispersion and reflection can also be understood using this model. Some textbooks mistakenly state that

3515-414: The vector analysis formula ∇ × u → {\displaystyle \nabla \times {\vec {\mathit {u}}}} , where ∇ {\displaystyle \nabla } is the nabla operator and u → {\displaystyle {\vec {\mathit {u}}}} is the local flow velocity. The local rotation measured by

3610-614: The "One o'Clock Gun" is fired at the eastern end of Edinburgh Castle. Standing at the base of the western end of the Castle Rock, the sound of the Gun can be heard through the rock, slightly before it arrives by the air route, partly delayed by the slightly longer route. It is particularly effective if a multi-gun salute such as for "The Queen's Birthday" is being fired. In a gas or liquid, sound consists of compression waves. In solids, waves propagate as two different types. A longitudinal wave

3705-590: The 17th century there were several attempts to measure the speed of sound accurately, including attempts by Marin Mersenne in 1630 (1,380 Parisian feet per second), Pierre Gassendi in 1635 (1,473 Parisian feet per second) and Robert Boyle (1,125 Parisian feet per second). In 1709, the Reverend William Derham , Rector of Upminster, published a more accurate measure of the speed of sound, at 1,072 Parisian feet per second. (The Parisian foot

3800-532: The BERP III programme. BERP III designs have a notch toward the outer end of the rotor blade, with a greater amount of sweepback from the notch to the end of the blade compared to inboard of the notch. BERP III culminated in a technology demonstration on a Westland Lynx helicopter. In 1986, a Lynx specially modified registered G-LYNX set an absolute speed record for helicopters over a 15 and 25 km course by reaching 400.87 km/h (249.09 mph). Following

3895-405: The Newton–Laplace equation above, the speed of sound in an ideal gas is given by c = γ ⋅ p ρ , {\displaystyle c={\sqrt {\gamma \cdot {p \over \rho }}},} where Using the ideal gas law to replace p with nRT / V , and replacing ρ with nM / V , the equation for an ideal gas becomes c i d e

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3990-423: The aircraft as a whole as a large amount of additional drag, known as wave drag . It was the onset of wave drag that gives rise to the idea of a sound barrier . Helicopters have the additional problem that their rotors move in relation to the fuselage as they rotate. Even when hovering, the rotor tips may be travelling at a significant fraction of the speed of sound. As the helicopter accelerates, its overall speed

4085-417: The axis line) are either closed loops or end at the boundary of the fluid. A whirlpool is an example of the latter, namely a vortex in a body of water whose axis ends at the free surface. A vortex tube whose vortex lines are all closed will be a closed torus -like surface. A newly created vortex will promptly extend and bend so as to eliminate any open-ended vortex lines. For example, when an airplane engine

4180-406: The axis line, with depth inversely proportional to r . The shape formed by the free surface is called a hyperboloid , or " Gabriel's Horn " (by Evangelista Torricelli ). The core of a vortex in air is sometimes visible because water vapor condenses as the low pressure of the core causes adiabatic cooling ; the funnel of a tornado is an example. When a vortex line ends at a boundary surface,

4275-416: The axis, and increases as one moves away from it, in accordance with Bernoulli's principle . One can say that it is the gradient of this pressure that forces the fluid to follow a curved path around the axis. In a rigid-body vortex flow of a fluid with constant density , the dynamic pressure is proportional to the square of the distance r from the axis. In a constant gravity field, the free surface of

4370-443: The blade at high angle of attack corresponding to the retreating side of the disk. In fact, experience has shown that a swept tip blade can have an inferior stalling characteristic compared to the standard blade tip. The BERP blade employs a final geometry that performs as a swept tip at high Mach numbers and low angles of attack, yet also enables the tip to operate at very high angles of attack without stalling. This latter attribute

4465-406: The boundary layer separates and forms a toroidal vortex ring. In a stationary vortex, the typical streamline (a line that is everywhere tangent to the flow velocity vector) is a closed loop surrounding the axis; and each vortex line (a line that is everywhere tangent to the vorticity vector) is roughly parallel to the axis. A surface that is everywhere tangent to both flow velocity and vorticity

4560-423: The boundary layer will not separate and vortices will not form. However, when the boundary layer does grow beyond this critical boundary layer thickness then separation will occur which will generate vortices. This boundary layer separation can also occur in the presence of combatting pressure gradients (i.e. a pressure that develops downstream). This is present in curved surfaces and general geometry changes like

4655-453: The cases of the absence of forces, the liquid settles. This makes the water stay still instead of moving. When they are created, vortices can move, stretch, twist and interact in complicated ways. When a vortex is moving, sometimes, it can affect an angular position. For an example, if a water bucket is rotated or spun constantly, it will rotate around an invisible line called the axis line. The rotation moves around in circles. In this example

4750-437: The core (for example, by steadily turning a cylinder at the core). In free space there is no energy input at the core, and thus the compact vorticity held in the core will naturally diffuse outwards, converting the core to a gradually-slowing and gradually-growing rigid-body flow, surrounded by the original irrotational flow. Such a decaying irrotational vortex has an exact solution of the viscous Navier–Stokes equations , known as

4845-407: The core and then into the engine. Vortices need not be steady-state features; they can move and change shape. In a moving vortex, the particle paths are not closed, but are open, loopy curves like helices and cycloids . A vortex flow might also be combined with a radial or axial flow pattern. In that case the streamlines and pathlines are not closed curves but spirals or helices, respectively. This

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4940-456: The denser materials. An illustrative example of the two effects is that sound travels only 4.3 times faster in water than air, despite enormous differences in compressibility of the two media. The reason is that the greater density of water, which works to slow sound in water relative to the air, nearly makes up for the compressibility differences in the two media. For instance, sound will travel 1.59 times faster in nickel than in bronze, due to

5035-537: The distance r . Irrotational vortices are also called free vortices . For an irrotational vortex, the circulation is zero along any closed contour that does not enclose the vortex axis; and has a fixed value, Γ , for any contour that does enclose the axis once. The tangential component of the particle velocity is then u θ = Γ 2 π r {\displaystyle u_{\theta }={\tfrac {\Gamma }{2\pi r}}} . The angular momentum per unit mass relative to

5130-400: The dynamics of fluid, a vortex is fluid that revolves around the axis line. This fluid might be curved or straight. Vortices form from stirred fluids: they might be observed in smoke rings , whirlpools , in the wake of a boat or the winds around a tornado or dust devil . Vortices are an important part of turbulent flow . Vortices can otherwise be known as a circular motion of a liquid. In

5225-445: The fastest it can travel under normal conditions. In theory, the speed of sound is actually the speed of vibrations. Sound waves in solids are composed of compression waves (just as in gases and liquids) and a different type of sound wave called a shear wave , which occurs only in solids. Shear waves in solids usually travel at different speeds than compression waves, as exhibited in seismology . The speed of compression waves in solids

5320-624: The flow velocity), as well as the concept of circulation are used to characterise vortices. In most vortices, the fluid flow velocity is greatest next to its axis and decreases in inverse proportion to the distance from the axis. In the absence of external forces, viscous friction within the fluid tends to organise the flow into a collection of irrotational vortices, possibly superimposed to larger-scale flows, including larger-scale vortices. Once formed, vortices can move, stretch, twist, and interact in complex ways. A moving vortex carries some angular and linear momentum, energy, and mass, with it. In

5415-419: The fluid particles are moving in closed paths. The spiral streaks that are taken to be streamlines are in fact clouds of the marker fluid that originally spanned several vortex tubes and were stretched into spiral shapes by the non-uniform flow velocity distribution. The fluid motion in a vortex creates a dynamic pressure (in addition to any hydrostatic pressure) that is lowest in the core region, closest to

5510-409: The fluid relative to the vortex's axis. In theory, the speed u of the particles (and, therefore, the vorticity) in a vortex may vary with the distance r from the axis in many ways. There are two important special cases, however: In the absence of external forces, a vortex usually evolves fairly quickly toward the irrotational flow pattern , where the flow velocity u is inversely proportional to

5605-410: The forward most part of the leading edge near the "notch" region. Evidence has shown that a strong "notch" vortex is also formed, which is trailed streamwise across the blade. This vortex acts like an aerodynamic fence and retards the flow separation region from encroaching into the tip region. Further increases in angle of attack make little change to the flow structure until a very high angle of attack

5700-477: The gas pressure. Humidity has a small but measurable effect on the speed of sound (causing it to increase by about 0.1%–0.6%), because oxygen and nitrogen molecules of the air are replaced by lighter molecules of water . This is a simple mixing effect. In the Earth's atmosphere , the chief factor affecting the speed of sound is the temperature . For a given ideal gas with constant heat capacity and composition,

5795-615: The greater stiffness of nickel at about the same density. Similarly, sound travels about 1.41 times faster in light hydrogen ( protium ) gas than in heavy hydrogen ( deuterium ) gas, since deuterium has similar properties but twice the density. At the same time, "compression-type" sound will travel faster in solids than in liquids, and faster in liquids than in gases, because the solids are more difficult to compress than liquids, while liquids, in turn, are more difficult to compress than gases. A practical example can be observed in Edinburgh when

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5890-401: The ground, creating an acoustic shadow at some distance from the source. The decrease of the speed of sound with height is referred to as a negative sound speed gradient . However, there are variations in this trend above 11 km . In particular, in the stratosphere above about 20 km , the speed of sound increases with height, due to an increase in temperature from heating within

5985-413: The gunshot with a half-second pendulum. Measurements were made of gunshots from a number of local landmarks, including North Ockendon church. The distance was known by triangulation , and thus the speed that the sound had travelled was calculated. The transmission of sound can be illustrated by using a model consisting of an array of spherical objects interconnected by springs. In real material terms,

6080-466: The important factors, since fluids do not transmit shear stresses. In heterogeneous fluids, such as a liquid filled with gas bubbles, the density of the liquid and the compressibility of the gas affect the speed of sound in an additive manner, as demonstrated in the hot chocolate effect . In gases, adiabatic compressibility is directly related to pressure through the heat capacity ratio (adiabatic index), while pressure and density are inversely related to

6175-444: The liquid, if present, is a concave paraboloid . In an irrotational vortex flow with constant fluid density and cylindrical symmetry, the dynamic pressure varies as P ∞ − ⁠ K / r ⁠ , where P ∞ is the limiting pressure infinitely far from the axis. This formula provides another constraint for the extent of the core, since the pressure cannot be negative. The free surface (if present) dips sharply near

6270-473: The material and decreases with an increase in density. For ideal gases, the bulk modulus K is simply the gas pressure multiplied by the dimensionless adiabatic index , which is about 1.4 for air under normal conditions of pressure and temperature. For general equations of state , if classical mechanics is used, the speed of sound c can be derived as follows: Consider the sound wave propagating at speed v {\displaystyle v} through

6365-563: The medium perpendicular to the direction of wave travel; the direction of shear-deformation is called the " polarization " of this type of wave. In general, transverse waves occur as a pair of orthogonal polarizations. These different waves (compression waves and the different polarizations of shear waves) may have different speeds at the same frequency. Therefore, they arrive at an observer at different times, an extreme example being an earthquake , where sharp compression waves arrive first and rocking transverse waves seconds later. The speed of

6460-451: The medium through which a sound wave is propagating. At 0 °C (32 °F), the speed of sound in air is about 331 m/s (1,086 ft/s; 1,192 km/h; 740 mph; 643 kn). The speed of sound in an ideal gas depends only on its temperature and composition. The speed has a weak dependence on frequency and pressure in ordinary air, deviating slightly from ideal behavior. In colloquial speech, speed of sound refers to

6555-423: The problem of wave drag is the same that was seen on 1950s jet fighters, the use of wing sweep . This reduces the effect of wave drag without significant negative effects except at very low speeds. In the case of fighters, this was a concern, especially at landing, but in the case of helicopters, this is less of an issue because the rotor tips do not slow significantly, even during landing. Such swept-tips can be seen

6650-432: The properties of the substance through which the wave is travelling. In solids, the speed of transverse (or shear) waves depends on the shear deformation under shear stress (called the shear modulus ), and the density of the medium. Longitudinal (or compression) waves in solids depend on the same two factors with the addition of a dependence on compressibility . In fluids, only the medium's compressibility and density are

6745-445: The reduced pressure may also draw matter from that surface into the core. For example, a dust devil is a column of dust picked up by the core of an air vortex attached to the ground. A vortex that ends at the free surface of a body of water (like the whirlpool that often forms over a bathtub drain) may draw a column of air down the core. The forward vortex extending from a jet engine of a parked airplane can suck water and small stones into

6840-933: The region near 0 °C ( 273 K ). Then, for dry air, c a i r = γ ⋅ R ∗ ⋅ T = γ ⋅ R ∗ ⋅ ( θ + 273.15 K ) , c a i r = γ ⋅ R ∗ ⋅ 273.15 K ⋅ 1 + θ 273.15 K . {\displaystyle {\begin{aligned}c_{\mathrm {air} }&={\sqrt {\gamma \cdot R_{*}\cdot T}}={\sqrt {\gamma \cdot R_{*}\cdot (\theta +273.15\,\mathrm {K} )}},\\c_{\mathrm {air} }&={\sqrt {\gamma \cdot R_{*}\cdot 273.15\,\mathrm {K} }}\cdot {\sqrt {1+{\frac {\theta }{273.15\,\mathrm {K} }}}}.\end{aligned}}} Vortex In fluid dynamics ,

6935-413: The rigid-body flow to the irrotational state. Vortex structures are defined by their vorticity , the local rotation rate of fluid particles. They can be formed via the phenomenon known as boundary layer separation which can occur when a fluid moves over a surface and experiences a rapid acceleration from the fluid velocity to zero due to the no-slip condition . This rapid negative acceleration creates

7030-400: The rotation of the bucket creates extra force. The reason that the vortices can change shape is the fact that they have open particle paths. This can create a moving vortex. Examples of this fact are the shapes of tornadoes and drain whirlpools . When two or more vortices are close together they can merge to make a vortex. Vortices also hold energy in its rotation of the fluid. If the energy

7125-1421: The same at the two ends of the tube, therefore the mass flux j = ρ v {\displaystyle j=\rho v} is constant and v d ρ = − ρ d v {\displaystyle v\,d\rho =-\rho \,dv} . Per Newton's second law , the pressure-gradient force provides the acceleration: d v d t = − 1 ρ d P d x → d P = ( − ρ d v ) d x d t = ( v d ρ ) v → v 2 ≡ c 2 = d P d ρ {\displaystyle {\begin{aligned}{\frac {dv}{dt}}&=-{\frac {1}{\rho }}{\frac {dP}{dx}}\\[1ex]\rightarrow dP&=(-\rho \,dv){\frac {dx}{dt}}=(v\,d\rho )v\\[1ex]\rightarrow v^{2}&\equiv c^{2}={\frac {dP}{d\rho }}\end{aligned}}} And therefore: c = ( ∂ P ∂ ρ ) s = K s ρ , {\displaystyle c={\sqrt {\left({\frac {\partial P}{\partial \rho }}\right)_{s}}}={\sqrt {\frac {K_{s}}{\rho }}},} If relativistic effects are important,

7220-504: The same or less than with the BERP III blade now fitted to the EH101 " helicopter. To prevent leading edge erosion the blade will use a rubber-based tape rather than the polyurethane used on UK navy Sea Kings. Under test it was found to last five times longer, 195 minutes vs 39 min. The programme ended in August 2007 Current applications are: Speed of sound The speed of sound

7315-466: The section on gases in specific heat capacity for a more complete discussion of this phenomenon. For air, we introduce the shorthand R ∗ = R / M a i r . {\displaystyle R_{*}=R/M_{\mathrm {air} }.} In addition, we switch to the Celsius temperature θ = T − 273.15 K , which is useful to calculate air speed in

7410-426: The sound wave is a small perturbation on the ambient condition, and the certain other noted conditions are fulfilled, as noted below. Calculated values for c air have been found to vary slightly from experimentally determined values. Newton famously considered the speed of sound before most of the development of thermodynamics and so incorrectly used isothermal calculations instead of adiabatic . His result

7505-404: The speed of sound increases with density. This notion is illustrated by presenting data for three materials, such as air, water, and steel and noting that the speed of sound is higher in the denser materials. But the example fails to take into account that the materials have vastly different compressibility, which more than makes up for the differences in density, which would slow wave speeds in

7600-423: The speed of sound is about 75% of the mean speed that the atoms move in that gas. For a given ideal gas the molecular composition is fixed, and thus the speed of sound depends only on its temperature . At a constant temperature, the gas pressure has no effect on the speed of sound, since the density will increase, and since pressure and density (also proportional to pressure) have equal but opposite effects on

7695-506: The speed of sound is calculated from the relativistic Euler equations . In a non-dispersive medium , the speed of sound is independent of sound frequency , so the speeds of energy transport and sound propagation are the same for all frequencies. Air, a mixture of oxygen and nitrogen, constitutes a non-dispersive medium. However, air does contain a small amount of CO 2 which is a dispersive medium, and causes dispersion to air at ultrasonic frequencies (greater than 28  kHz ). In

7790-404: The speed of sound is dependent solely upon temperature; see § Details below. In such an ideal case, the effects of decreased density and decreased pressure of altitude cancel each other out, save for the residual effect of temperature. Since temperature (and thus the speed of sound) decreases with increasing altitude up to 11 km , sound is refracted upward, away from listeners on

7885-539: The speed of sound waves in air . However, the speed of sound varies from substance to substance: typically, sound travels most slowly in gases , faster in liquids , and fastest in solids . For example, while sound travels at 343 m/s in air, it travels at 1481 m/s in water (almost 4.3 times as fast) and at 5120 m/s in iron (almost 15 times as fast). In an exceptionally stiff material such as diamond, sound travels at 12,000 m/s (39,370 ft/s),  – about 35 times its speed in air and about

7980-490: The speed of sound, and the two contributions cancel out exactly. In a similar way, compression waves in solids depend both on compressibility and density—just as in liquids—but in gases the density contributes to the compressibility in such a way that some part of each attribute factors out, leaving only a dependence on temperature, molecular weight, and heat capacity ratio which can be independently derived from temperature and molecular composition (see derivations below). Thus, for

8075-402: The spheres represent the material's molecules and the springs represent the bonds between them. Sound passes through the system by compressing and expanding the springs, transmitting the acoustic energy to neighboring spheres. This helps transmit the energy in-turn to the neighboring sphere's springs (bonds), and so on. The speed of sound through the model depends on the stiffness /rigidity of

8170-435: The successful technology demonstration, the BERP III blade went into production. BERP IV uses: a new aerofoil, revised blade tip shape, and increased blade twist. After 29 hours of testing it has been found to, "improve rotor flight-envelope performance, reduce power needs in hover and forward flight, ... decrease airframe and engine vibration for a range of take-off weights." Additionally "Rotor hub loading has been found to be

8265-429: The temperature and molecular weight, thus making only the completely independent properties of temperature and molecular structure important (heat capacity ratio may be determined by temperature and molecular structure, but simple molecular weight is not sufficient to determine it). Sound propagates faster in low molecular weight gases such as helium than it does in heavier gases such as xenon . For monatomic gases,

8360-440: The vortex axis is therefore constant, r u θ = Γ 2 π {\displaystyle ru_{\theta }={\tfrac {\Gamma }{2\pi }}} . The ideal irrotational vortex flow in free space is not physically realizable, since it would imply that the particle speed (and hence the force needed to keep particles in their circular paths) would grow without bound as one approaches

8455-402: The vortex axis. Indeed, in real vortices there is always a core region surrounding the axis where the particle velocity stops increasing and then decreases to zero as r goes to zero. Within that region, the flow is no longer irrotational: the vorticity ω → {\displaystyle {\vec {\omega }}} becomes non-zero, with direction roughly parallel to

8550-450: The vortex axis. The Rankine vortex is a model that assumes a rigid-body rotational flow where r is less than a fixed distance r 0 , and irrotational flow outside that core regions. In a viscous fluid, irrotational flow contains viscous dissipation everywhere, yet there are no net viscous forces, only viscous stresses. Due to the dissipation, this means that sustaining an irrotational viscous vortex requires continuous input of work at

8645-430: The vorticity ω → {\displaystyle {\vec {\omega }}} must not be confused with the angular velocity vector of that portion of the fluid with respect to the external environment or to any fixed axis. In a vortex, in particular, ω → {\displaystyle {\vec {\omega }}} may be opposite to the mean angular velocity vector of

8740-429: The vorticity vector is defined to be the direction of the axis of rotation of this imaginary ball (according to the right-hand rule ) while its length is twice the ball's angular velocity . Mathematically, the vorticity is defined as the curl (or rotational) of the velocity field of the fluid, usually denoted by ω → {\displaystyle {\vec {\omega }}} and expressed by

8835-422: Was 325 mm . This is longer than the standard "international foot" in common use today, which was officially defined in 1959 as 304.8 mm , making the speed of sound at 20 °C (68 °F) 1,055 Parisian feet per second). Derham used a telescope from the tower of the church of St. Laurence, Upminster to observe the flash of a distant shotgun being fired, and then measured the time until he heard

8930-435: Was missing the factor of γ but was otherwise correct. Numerical substitution of the above values gives the ideal gas approximation of sound velocity for gases, which is accurate at relatively low gas pressures and densities (for air, this includes standard Earth sea-level conditions). Also, for diatomic gases the use of γ = 1.4000 requires that the gas exists in a temperature range high enough that rotational heat capacity

9025-408: Was obtained by radically increasing the sweep of the outermost part of the tip (the outer 2% approximately) to a value (70 degrees) where any significant angle of attack will cause leading edge flow separation. Because the leading edge is so highly swept, this leading edge separation develops into a vortex structure which rolls around the leading edge and eventually sits over the upper surface (as on

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