Prandtl,continuedtoimprovetheunderstandingofsupersonicflow.

Othernotablefigures(Meyer,LuigiCrocco,and
Shapiro)alsocontributedsignificantlytotheprinciplesconsideredfundamentaltothestudyofmoderngasdynamics.
Manyothersalsocontributedtothisfield.

Accompanyingtheimprovedconceptualunderstandingofgasdynamicsintheearly20thcenturywasapublic
misconceptionthatthereexistedabarriertotheattainablespeedofaircraft,commonlyreferredtoasthe"soundbarrier."
Intruth,thebarriertosupersonicflightwasmerelyatechnologicalone,althoughitwasastubbornbarriertoovercome.
Amongstotherfactors,conventionalaerofoilssawadramaticincreaseindragcoefficientwhentheflowapproachedthe
speedofsound.Overcomingthelargerdragproveddifficultwithcontemporarydesigns,thustheperceptionofasound
barrier.However,aircraftdesignprogressedsufficientlytoproducetheBellX1.PilotedbyChuckYeager,theX1
officiallyachievedsupersonicspeedinOctober1947.[4]

Historically,twoparallelpathsofresearchhavebeenfollowedinordertofurthergasdynamicsknowledge.
Experimentalgasdynamicsundertakeswindtunnelmodelexperimentsandexperimentsinshocktubesandballistic
rangeswiththeuseofopticaltechniquestodocumentthefindings.Theoreticalgasdynamicsconsiderstheequationsof
motionappliedtoavariabledensitygas,andtheirsolutions.Muchofbasicgasdynamicsisanalytical,butinthe
moderneraComputationalfluiddynamicsappliescomputingpowertosolvetheotherwiseintractablenonlinearpartial
differentialequationsofcompressibleflowforspecificgeometriesandflowcharacteristics.

Introductoryconcepts
Thereareseveralimportantassumptionsinvolvedintheunderlyingtheoryof
compressibleflow.Allfluidsarecomposedofmolecules,buttrackingahuge
numberofindividualmoleculesinaflow(forexampleatatmosphericpressure)
isunnecessary.Instead,thecontinuumassumptionallowsustoconsidera
flowinggasasacontinuoussubstanceexceptatlowdensities.Thisassumption
providesahugesimplificationwhichisaccurateformostgasdynamicproblems.
Onlyinthelowdensityrealmofrarefiedgasdynamicsdoesthemotionof
individualmoleculesbecomeimportant.

Arelatedassumptionisthenoslipconditionwheretheflowvelocityatasolid
surfaceispresumedequaltothevelocityofthesurfaceitself,whichisadirect Breakdownoffluidmechanicschart
consequenceofassumingcontinuumflow.Thenoslipconditionimpliesthatthe
flowisviscous,andasaresultaboundarylayerformsonbodiestraveling
throughtheairathighspeeds,muchasitdoesinlowspeedflow.

Mostproblemsinincompressibleflowinvolveonlytwounknowns:pressureandvelocity,whicharetypicallyfoundby
solvingthetwoequationsthatdescribeconservationofmassandoflinearmomentum,withthefluiddensitypresumed
constant.Incompressibleflow,however,thegasdensityandtemperaturealsobecomevariables.Thisrequirestwomore
equationsinordertosolvecompressibleflowproblems:anequationofstateforthegasandaconservationofenergy
equation.Forthemajorityofgasdynamicproblems,thesimpleIdealgaslawistheappropriatestateequation.

Fluiddynamicsproblemshavetwooveralltypesofreferencesframes,calledLagrangianandEulerian(seeJoseph
LouisLagrangeandLeonhardEuler).TheLagrangianapproachfollowsafluidmassoffixedidentityasitmoves
throughaflowfield.TheEulerianreferenceframe,incontrast,doesnotmovewiththefluid.Ratheritisafixedframeor
controlvolumethatfluidflowsthrough.TheEulerianframeismostusefulinamajorityofcompressibleflowproblems,
butrequiresthattheequationsofmotionbewritteninacompatibleformat.

Finally,althoughspaceisknowntohave3dimensions,animportantsimplificationcanbehadindescribinggas
dynamicsmathematicallyifonlyonespatialdimensionisofprimaryimportance,hence1dimensionalflowisassumed.
Thisworkswellinduct,nozzle,anddiffuserflowswheretheflowpropertieschangemainlyintheflowdirectionrather
thanperpendiculartotheflow.However,animportantclassofcompressibleflows,includingtheexternalflowover
bodiestravelingathighspeed,requiresatleasta2dimensionaltreatment.Whenall3spatialdimensionsandperhaps
thetimedimensionaswellareimportant,weoftenresorttocomputerizedsolutionsofthegoverningequations.