Thin Shock-Layer Theory Revisited

During the hypersonics activities of the 1960s, thin shock-layer theory was developed as a rst-order correction to Newtonian theory, in the hope of gaining insight into eÆcient lift at very high speeds. The wings are limited to conical geometry, but can have arbitrary transverse camber. Good predictions were made of the forces generated by delta and caret wings, but no optimization studies were carried out. This paper collects together some old results, including some that were not widely published, establishes a parameter that measures hypersonic lifting eÆciency, and presents a wing design that achieves a very high value of that parameter.