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Transonic small disturbance theory is used to solve for the flow past thin airfoils including cases with imbedded shock waves. The small disturbance equations and similarity rules are presented, and a boundary value problem is formulated for the case of a subsonic freestream Mach number. The governing transonic potential equation is a mixed (elliptic-hyperbolic) differential equation which is solved numerically using a newly developed mixed finite difference system. Separate difference formulas are used in the elliptic and hyperbolic regions to account properly for the local domain of dependence of the differential equation. An analytical solution derived for the far field is used as a boundary condition for the numerical solution. The difference equations are solved with a line relaxation algorithm. Shock waves, if any, and supersonic zones appear naturally during the iterative process. Results are presented for nonlifting circular arc airfoils and a shock free Nieuwland airfoil. Agreement with experiment for the circular arc airfoils, and exact theory for the Nieuwland airfoil is excellent.
Murman et al. (Fri,) studied this question.