The construction of optimum three-dimensional shapes within the framework of a model of local interaction

✍ Scribed by G.Ye Yakunina

• Publisher: Elsevier Science
• Year: 2000
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 847 KB
• Volume: 64
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0021-8928
• DOI: 10.1016/s0021-8928(00)00051-4

✦ Synopsis

Within the framework of the law of locality, where a force acting on a surface element of a body is a known function of the orientation of the element with respect to the direction of motion, without constraints on the form of this function and the thickness of the body, the problem of constructing the three-dimensional shape of a body of minimum drag is solved. It is shown that, for a specified base area of the body and its maximum permissible length, the problem has an infinite set of solutions. Here, all the optimum bodies are conical, and their drag is identical. The surface of these bodies is formed by combinations of surface areas of a circular cone and planes tangential to it. The angle at the tip of the circular cone is determined by the characteristics of the medium and by the velocity of motion in the constants occurring in the drag law.