Page:Aerial Flight - Volume 1 - Aerodynamics - Frederick Lanchester - 1906.djvu/55

Rh samples chosen for measurement being as far apart as the albatros and the common sparrow. Consequently we find that the theoretical conclusion receives substantial confirmation.

The relation of fineness to speed is not so easy of demonstration, owing to the absence of accurate data. It would, however, seem to be sufficiently obvious as a matter of general experience that our conclusions hold good. It is almost certain that in general the fish with the finer lines are the faster swimmers. If this conclusion be accepted, the viscosity relation of the preceding paragraph is emphasised, for there is no doubt that the average speed of flight is greatly in excess of any ordinary velocity attained by fish.

§ 26. Mutilation of the Streamline Form.—There are certain types of body that may be regarded as mutilations of the streamline form, and the consequences of such mutilation may now be examined.

If, in the case of a body propelled at a constant velocity, the entire run be removed, as in § 23, the consequence is a surface of discontinuity emanating from the periphery of section. Under these circumstances, if we neglect the influence of viscosity and the consequent loss of wake pressure, the work done appears wholly in the counterwake current, on the production of which energy is being continuously expended. This performance of work is otherwise represented by a resistance to motion, being the difference between the excess pressure on the head and the diminished pressure on the shoulder, according to the principle explained in § 11. If now we restore the buttock, so that the mutilation is confined to the simple loss of the tail (Fig. 15), the diminished pressure on the buttock acts as a drag upon the body, and more work must be expended in propulsion. This additional energy will appear in the fluid as a radial component in the motion of the stream which does not exist if the whole run is removed. It is probable that some of this energy is restored by an increase in the pressure of the dead water due to the