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Aviation History
1969
1969 - 0413.PDF
lift Jfli . Willi 0.' '"JUHWllw /r"" CONCORDE By J. M. RAMSDEN Introduction to the new technology ". . . one of the biggest single steps man has taken in the history of air transport, and one of the biggest taken in any form of transport"—Sir George Edwards Contents An Introduction to Concorde Technology 1-7 Aerodynamics 8-11 Structure 12-15 Powerplant 16-26 Fuel System 31 Electrical System 32-33 Air-conditioning 33-34 Cutaway 39-41 Hydraulics 42 Wheel Brakes 43 Flying Control Actuation 44-47 Automatic Flight Control 48-51 Navigation 51 Flight Testing 52-57 Payload Accommodation & Aircraft Data 58-61 Development of Operational Performance 62-63 Airline Participation 64 Airline Pilot's Viewpoint 67-68 Production Management 71-72, 75-76 FROM THE BEGINNING OF TIME until about 1840 the distance a man could travel between getting up and going to bed was about 75 miles. By the end of the last century this 12hr journey rose to 500 miles. Then technology produced the aeroplane, and today a man can travel 7,000 miles in his waking hours. When the supersonic era is inaugurated this 12hr distance will have become 12,000 miles, which is pretty well anywhere on earth. Thus has technology revolutionised transport. But it has not affected one of the basic laws of transport, which is that traffic volume increases as journey time decreases. There has always been a distinct relationship between traffic volume and the 12hr journey distance, which within three lifetimes— taking London as the datum—has been extended from Oxford to San Francisco. When the Concorde comes into service four years from now it will be Sydney, give an hour or two. Pushing up the speed of air transport from 600 m.p.h. to 1,300 m.p.h. presents many more problems than did pushing up the speed from 300 m.p.h. to 600 m.p.h. Transonic and supersonic flight introduces three main difficulties unknown at subsonic speeds—shock-wave drag, which during the cruise can be 30 per cent of the total; the rearward shift of the aerodynamic centre at transonic speed; and kinetic heating. A completely new approach to aerodynamics, structure and propulsion is involved. It would be hard to find one part of the Concorde, apart perhaps from the passenger seats, which does not demand some degree of new technology. But let us look at the major areas, which are:— Aerodynamics and geometry; powerplant; structure; fuel for , trimming and heat sink; sonic boom and noise; radiation and ozone; cost and operating economics.
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