This report gives extended data for the flow past roughness trips to provoke boundary-layer transition. This first Part reports work on wire trips giving data for the forces on the wire, the positions of recovery and effective origin of the turbulent layer, the length of the separation bubble and the beginning and end of transition. Parts 2 and 3 describe similar work on spherical roughness trips, used singly and in rows, looking in more detail at the spanwise variations in the downstream boundary-layer.

We consider the effect of atmospheric disturbances, such as wind, shears, turbulence, wakes and downflows, on aircraft performance (section 1), recalling the minimum of aerodynamics (section 2) necessary for the calculation of the effects on flight mechanics. For example, it is shown (section 3) that the relative lift change, due to wind, shear or both, coincides with the disturbance intensity G, defined as the instantaneous vertical acceleration, measured in g's, that an aircraft will experience as a consequence of atmospheric disturbances, assuming constant velocity and attitude. The disturbance intensity is a measure of the total force that the atmospheric disturbance can exert on the aircraft; this force may cause changes in normal acceleration, flight velocity and angle-of-attack, either isolated (section 5) or combined (section 6), in straight and level flight; in the case of a horizontal turn (section 7), the disturbance intensity specifies the changes in instantaneous turn rate, velocity, radius (section 8), acceleration and bank angle (section 9) due to atmospheric perturbations, and their cumulative effect over time in (section 10) deforming and displacing trajectories. These effects (section 11) are quantified by formulas and illustrated in graphics, and we indicate throughout the flight mechanical consequences of disturbances with the critical intensities G1 = — 0·17 and G2 = — 0·42; these are the disturbance intensities which, if uncompensated, would be just enough to cause an aircraft to stall (section 4) respectively at unstick on take-off and on approach to land. We conclude (section 12) with a discussion of the use of the disturbance intensity as a parameter in the reduction and analysis of flight data.

This paper considers two-dimensional flow past flexible membranes whose supports are aligned at right angles to the flow. Unlike a previous study of bluff impervious membranes, the present membranes are slightly porous having a porosity similar to that of parachutes. The drag and base pressure have been measured for various lengths and for a variety of fabrics. The results have been correlated by two theories which are extensions of those already published. When the porosity is not too small the results are shown to depend only on the total volume flow through the membrane. The tendency for the membrane to oscillate in harmony with regular vortex shedding is reduced by the porosity and increased by the length of the membrane. Above a certain porosity oscillation is inhibited for all membrane lengths.