Interferometric Analysis of Airflow about Projectiles in Free Flight

Abstract

A description is given of the adaptation to the ENIAC of the interferogram reduction problem for axisymmetric flows. Isopycnal charts from interferograms of projectiles in free flight are presented, and comparison is made with similar studies by other workers using fixed models in a wind tunnel or a circular jet. In general, good agreement is found between density fields obtained by the two methods. Sources of error are discussed; and in particular, it is found that random errors accumulate to effect adversely the density values near the axis of the flow.