Influence of Leading-Edge Suction on Lift-Drag Ratios of Wings at Supersonic Speeds

A method based on linearized theory is presented for calculating the theoretical suction force at the subsonic leading edges of a family of wings at supersonic speeds. The method is used to determine the optimum sweepback angles for the tips of trapezoidal wings and to determine the effect of curvature of the tip contour on the lift-drag ratio of wing regions influenced by the tip. The effect of skin friction is included. The possible gain in lift-drag ratio from proper tip design of trapezoidal wings increases as the sweepback of the wing is increased. results indicate that appropriately curved tip boundaries will give higher lift-drag ratios in the region affected by the tip than the best trapezoidal wing.