Research Progress—1928: Principal Lines of Improvement and Development During the Year Which Has Passed, in Retrospect

Abstract

IT is scarcely possible, in anything short of a volume, to review completely the various phases of Aeronautical research during the year that has just closed; the most that can be done in a short space is to mention the main directions in which that research has increased our knowledge, and to deal in slightly more detail with those investigations which seem to be of the greatest importance. Aeronautics is essentially an experimental science, since all but the simplest problems in the motion of a real fluid have hitherto defied analytical treatment. Every attempt is being made to understand more fully the nature of fluid motion, and to apply such knowledge to the practical problems of flight, but at the moment progress is mainly dependent upon experimental investigations either upon models in the wind tunnel or upon actual aeroplanes and their component parts. The equipment for such work in this country has been fully employed during the last year, and steps have been taken to increase the facilities for model experiments by the provision of a Compressed Air Tunnel in which models can be tested at a value of Reynold's Number equal to that attained by an aeroplane in flight. Such a tunnel has been in use for about two years in the United States, and has given ample proof of its great possibilities as a research instrument.

Citation

Relf, E.F. (1929), "Research Progress—1928: Principal Lines of Improvement and Development During the Year Which Has Passed, in Retrospect", Aircraft Engineering and Aerospace Technology, Vol. 1 No. 1, pp. 7-8. https://doi.org/10.1108/eb029090