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(meteorobs) OT: Supersonic aircraft engineering
At 10:02 AM 12/8/00 -0800, John Sanford wrote:
>Geo et al,
>The (sharp) leading edges of the SR-71 and possibly other very high speed
>aircraft were made of fairly thick titanium. They did get quite hot in high
>speed flight and stayed hot even for a short while after landing. I don't
>know if there was any cooling system for those leading edges such as
>circulating fuel through them (or a better coolant).
The Concorde is speed-limited by its skin temperature. Ordinary operation
calls for a max temp of 127 deg C, and I think the absolute max is 170 deg.
C. This is because the Concorde is constructed of aluminum (cheaper to
build that way). The Concorde stretches about 9 inches in cruise flight
due to expansion caused by heating; as I recall the cabin floor is actually
on rollers to accommodate this expansion of the outer structure of the
aircraft. The faster SR-71 needed its (much more expensive) titanium
construction due to the higher heat generated, up around 260 deg C. skin temp.
There's an interesting discussion of SST materials and engineering at:
http://www.atse.org.au/publications/focus/focus-polmear.htm
for those that might be interested in pursuing it further.
Jim B.
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