INTEGRAL EQUATION TECHNIQUES APPLIED TO SINGLE AEROFOILS AND CASCADES.

Integral equation methods have been used to represent the flow about arbitrary bodies for more than fifty years. During this time considerable progress has been made in the prediction of surface pressure distributions, overall aerodynamic performance analysis and in the design of specific geometries satisfying ever more complex performance criteria. In this paper, the chronological development of integral equation methods is briefly outlined from the early attempts of modelling the potential flow around a circle to the more recent numerical solutions of the viscous flow about multi-element aerofoils and cascades. To keep this paper to a reasonable length the subject matter is restricted to two-dimensional flow.