Treatment of vortex sheets for the transonic full‐potential equation

This paper summarizes a combined analytical‐computational technique which models vortex sheets in transonic potential‐flow methods. In this approach, the inviscid nature of discontinuities across vortex sheets is preserved by employing the step function to remove singularities at these surfaces. The location and strength of the vortex sheets are determined by satisfying the flow‐tangency boundary condition and the vorticity transport equation. The theory is formulated for the general three‐dimensional case, but its application is confined to the problem of computing slipstreams behind propellers with free‐vortex blading in axisymmetric flows.