1.) It would probably reduce supersonic drag as the shockwave is going to probably be behind the leading edge anyway, and a low-sweep has lower supersonic drag than a highly swept wing.
yes, according to those prior excerpts; however shock wvae pattern at those speeds are remarkably complex, and also due to very high altitudes the effect of 'slip' a Reynold's number effect-in the manner in which the boundary layer 'slips' relative to the wing this also changes lift characteristics and the overall L/D ratio ,lift-slope curve, pitching moments coefficient, etc...
in short the exact plan form configuration chosen by the designers is contingent upon numerous factors,...but lowered total drag may simply not be that important on a particular design compared with other aspects of the design...it really all depends and theoretical treatment is limited...but hypersonic is now very old...it's just not really important for us to do right now...but mankind has been capable a while now...
You mean pitch down tendency and low drag when getting through Mach 1?
not necessarily...as described above
2.) It would probably make the inlet design simpler as it doesn't have to be wrapped around the curve as you have a 2D ramp over a 3D cone
Still, I'm wondering if a thin diamond shaped wing would be more suitable as that wing-shape works well when the shock-wave sweeps beyond the leading-edge of the wing with a spatular insert in the middle; or an ogival shape with the inboard section spatular with the sweep progressively increased from the root to the tip (like a shovel or certain mideval shields). 2nd May 2011 14:55
Gotta see and test it...
Out of curiosity: Anybody heard of the Kuchemann Tau?
yes, it has do do the volume/wetted area-ratio one need a large value to go faster, because the geometric volume increase must be higher than than wetted area increase...as measure of effective lift...I think text on high speed aerodynamics might be overwhelming...so I don't think I'm able to expand more...
