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At Mach 0.65, u is 65% of the speed of sound (subsonic), and, at Mach 1.35, u is 35% faster than the speed of sound (supersonic). An F/A-18 Hornet creating a vapor cone at transonic speed just before reaching the speed of sound. The local speed of sound, and hence the Mach number, depends on the temperature of the surrounding gas.
The speed of sound is the distance travelled per unit of time by a sound wave as it propagates through an elastic medium. More simply, the speed of sound is how fast vibrations travel. At 20 °C (68 °F), the speed of sound in air, is about 343 m/s (1,125 ft/s; 1,235 km/h; 767 mph; 667 kn), or 1 km in 2.91 s or one mile in 4.69 s.
Mach number is more useful, and most high-speed aircraft are limited to a maximum operating Mach number, also known as M MO. For example, if the M MO is Mach 0.83, then at 9,100 m (30,000 ft) where the speed of sound under standard conditions is 1,093 kilometres per hour (590 kn), the true airspeed at M MO is 906 kilometres per hour (489 kn).
These two properties determine the speed of sound in the gas at its given temperature. The Buckingham pi theorem then leads to a third dimensionless group, the ratio of the relative velocity to the speed of sound, which is known as the Mach number. Consequently when a body is moving relative to a gas, the drag coefficient varies with the Mach ...
where a 0 is 1,225 km/h (661.45 kn) (the standard speed of sound at 15 °C), M is the Mach number, P is static pressure, and P 0 is standard sea level pressure (1013.25 hPa). Combining the above with the expression for Mach number gives EAS as a function of impact pressure and static pressure (valid for subsonic flow):
Transonic flow patterns on an aircraft wing, showing the effects at and above the critical Mach number. In aerodynamics, the critical Mach number (Mcr or M*) of an aircraft is the lowest Mach number at which the airflow over some point of the aircraft reaches the speed of sound, but does not exceed it. [1]
A projectile fired at supersonic muzzle velocity will at some point slow to approach the speed of sound. At the transonic region (about Mach 1.2–0.8) the centre of pressure (CP) of most non spherical projectiles shifts forward as the projectile decelerates.
where is the Mach number and is the speed of sound, in other words, downstream flow is sonic with respect to the Chapman-Jouguet wave. Explicit expression for the variables can be derived, Explicit expression for the variables can be derived,