50 years of transonic aircraft design

This article traces the evolution of long range jet transport aircraft over the 50 years since Kuechemann founded the journal Progress in Aerospace Sciences. The article is particularly focused on transonic aerodynamics. During Kuechemann's life time a good qualitative understanding had been achieved of transonic flow and swept wing design, but transonic flow remained intractable to quantitative prediction. During the last 50 years this situation has been completely transformed by the introduction of sophisticated numerical algorithms and an astonishing increase in the available computational power, with the consequence that aerodynamic design is now carried out largely by computer simulation. Moreover developments in aerodynamic shape optimization based on control theory enable a competitive swept wing to be designed in just two simulations, as illustrated in the article. While the external appearance of long range jet aircraft has not changed much, advances in information technology have actually transformed the entire design and manufacturing process through parallel advances in computer aided design (CAD), computational structural mechanics (CSM) and multidisciplinary optimization (MDO). They have also transformed aircraft operations through the adoption of digital fly-by-wire and advanced navigational techniques.