Comparison of Theodorsen’s Unsteady Aerodynamic Forces with Doublet Lattice Generalized Aerodynamic Forces

Abstract: This paper identifies the unsteady aerodynamic forces and moments for a typical section contained in the NACA Report No. 496, “General Theory of Aerodynamic Instability and the Mechanism of Flutter,” by Theodore Theodorsen. These quantities are named Theodorsen’s aerodynamic forces (TAFs). The TAFs are compared to the generalized aerodynamic forces (GAFs) for a very high aspect ratio wing (AR = 20) at zero Mach number computed by the doublet lattice method. Agreement between TAFs and GAFs is …