Nikolay Yegorovich Zhukovsky

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Nikolay Yegorovich Zhukovsky
Nikolai Egorovich Zhukovskii.jpg
Born(1847-01-17)January 17, 1847
Orekhovo, Vladimir Oblast, Russian Empire
Died March 17, 1921(1921-03-17) (aged 74)
Moscow
Residence Moscow, Russia
Nationality Russian
Alma mater Moscow State University
Known for Fluid Dynamics
Founder of Aerodynamics
Awards Order of Saint Anna
Order of Saint Stanislaus
Order of Saint Vladimir
Scientific career
Fields Mathematical Physics
Institutions Imperial Moscow University
Bauman Moscow State Technical University
Moscow State University
Academic advisors August Davidov
Notable students Sergey Chaplygin
Leonid I. Sedov
Vasily Shuleikin
Influences Ernst Mach
Ludwig Mach
Nikolai Brashman

Nikolay Yegorovich Zhukovsky [1] (Russian :Никола́й Его́рович Жуко́вский,IPA:  [ʐʊˈkofskʲɪj] ; January 17 [ O.S. January 5] 1847 – March 17, 1921) was a Russian scientist, mathematician and engineer, and a founding father of modern aero- and hydrodynamics. Whereas contemporary scientists scoffed at the idea of human flight, Zhukovsky was the first to undertake the study of airflow. He is often called the Father of Russian Aviation.

Russian language East Slavic language

Russian is an East Slavic language, which is official in the Russian Federation, Belarus, Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan, as well as being widely used throughout Eastern Europe, the Baltic states, the Caucasus and Central Asia. It was the de facto language of the Soviet Union until its dissolution on 25 December 1991. Although nearly three decades have passed since the breakup of the Soviet Union, Russian is used in official capacity or in public life in all the post-Soviet nation-states, as well as in Israel and Mongolia.

Old Style and New Style dates 16th-century changes in calendar conventions

Old Style (O.S.) and New Style (N.S.) are terms sometimes used with dates to indicate that the calendar convention used at the time described is different from that in use at the time the document was being written. There were two calendar changes in Great Britain and its colonies, which may sometimes complicate matters: the first was to change the start of the year from Lady Day to 1 January; the second was to discard the Julian calendar in favour of the Gregorian calendar. Closely related is the custom of dual dating, where writers gave two consecutive years to reflect differences in the starting date of the year, or to include both the Julian and Gregorian dates.

Aerodynamics branch of dynamics concerned with studying the motion of air

Aerodynamics, from Greek ἀήρ aer (air) + δυναμική (dynamics), is the study of motion of air, particularly as interaction with a solid object, such as an airplane wing. It is a sub-field of fluid dynamics and gas dynamics, and many aspects of aerodynamics theory are common to these fields. The term aerodynamics is often used synonymously with gas dynamics, the difference being that "gas dynamics" applies to the study of the motion of all gases, and is not limited to air. The formal study of aerodynamics began in the modern sense in the eighteenth century, although observations of fundamental concepts such as aerodynamic drag were recorded much earlier. Most of the early efforts in aerodynamics were directed toward achieving heavier-than-air flight, which was first demonstrated by Otto Lilienthal in 1891. Since then, the use of aerodynamics through mathematical analysis, empirical approximations, wind tunnel experimentation, and computer simulations has formed a rational basis for the development of heavier-than-air flight and a number of other technologies. Recent work in aerodynamics has focused on issues related to compressible flow, turbulence, and boundary layers and has become increasingly computational in nature.

Contents

The fundamental aerodynamical theorem, Kutta-Zhukovsky theorem, is named after him and German mathematician Martin Wilhelm Kutta. As is the Joukowsky transform.

The Kutta–Joukowski theorem is a fundamental theorem in aerodynamics used for the calculation of lift of an airfoil and any two-dimensional bodies including circular cylinders translating in a uniform fluid at a constant speed large enough so that the flow seen in the body-fixed frame is steady and unseparated. The theorem relates the lift generated by an airfoil to the speed of the airfoil through the fluid, the density of the fluid and the circulation around the airfoil. The circulation is defined as the line integral around a closed loop enclosing the airfoil of the component of the velocity of the fluid tangent to the loop. It is named after Martin Kutta and Nikolai Zhukovsky who first developed its key ideas in the early 20th century. Kutta–Joukowski theorem is an inviscid theory, but it is a good approximation for real viscous flow in typical aerodynamic applications.

Joukowsky transform

In applied mathematics, the Joukowsky transform, named after Nikolai Zhukovsky, is a conformal map historically used to understand some principles of airfoil design.

Life

Zhukovsky was born in the village of Orekhovo, Vladimir Governorate, Russian Empire. In 1868, he graduated from Moscow University where he studied under August Davidov. From 1872, he was a professor at the Imperial Technical School. In 1904, he established the world's first Aerodynamic Institute in Kachino near Moscow. He was influenced by both Ernst Mach and his son Ludwig Mach. [2] From 1918, he was the head of TsAGI (Central AeroHydroDynamics Institute).

A governorate, or a guberniya, was a major and principal administrative subdivision of the Russian Empire and the early Russian SFSR and Ukrainian SSR. The term is usually translated as government, governorate, or province. A governorate was ruled by a governor, a word borrowed from Latin gubernator, in turn from Greek kybernetes. Sometimes the term guberniya was informally used to refer to the office of a governor.

Russian Empire Former country, 1721–1917

The Russian Empire, also known as Imperial Russia or simply Russia, was an empire that existed across Eurasia and North America from 1721, following the end of the Great Northern War, until the Republic was proclaimed by the Provisional Government that took power after the February Revolution of 1917.

Moscow State University university in Moscow, Russia

Moscow State University is a coeducational and public research university located in Moscow, Russia. It was founded on 23 January [O.S. 12 January] 1755 by Mikhail Lomonosov. MSU was renamed after Lomonosov in 1940 and was then known as Lomonosov University. It also houses the tallest educational building in the world. Its current rector is Viktor Sadovnichiy. According to the 2018 QS World University Rankings, it is the highest-ranking Russian educational institution and is widely considered the most prestigious university in the former Soviet Union.

Stamp from the USSR Aviation series 1963 dedicated to Zhukovsky (CFA 2915, Scott 2774) Zhukovskij marka SSSR 1963.jpg
Stamp from the USSR Aviation series 1963 dedicated to Zhukovsky (CFA 2915, Scott 2774)

He was the first scientist to explain mathematically the origin of aerodynamic lift, through his circulation hypothesis, the first to establish that the lift force generated by a body moving through an ideal fluid is proportional to the velocity and the circulation around the body. He used a conformal mathematical transformation to define the ideal shape of the aerodynamic profile having as essential elements a rounded nose (leading edge), double surface (finite thickness), cambered or symmetrical, and a sharp tail (trailing edge). He built the first wind tunnel in Russia. He was also responsible for the eponymous water hammer equation used by civil engineers and the Joukowsky transform.

Lift (force) force; aerodynamics term

A fluid flowing past the surface of a body exerts a force on it. Lift is the component of this force that is perpendicular to the oncoming flow direction. It contrasts with the drag force, which is the component of the force parallel to the flow direction. Lift conventionally acts in an upward direction in order to counter the force of gravity, but it can act in any direction at right angles to the flow.

Circulation (fluid dynamics) the path integral of the fluid velocity around a closed curve

In fluid dynamics, circulation is the line integral around a closed curve of the velocity field. Circulation is normally denoted Γ. Circulation was first used independently by Frederick Lanchester, Martin Kutta and Nikolai Zhukovsky.

In aeronautics and aeronautical engineering, camber is the asymmetry between the two acting surfaces of an aerofoil, with the top surface of a wing commonly being more convex. An aerofoil that is not cambered is called a symmetric aerofoil. The benefits of cambering were discovered and first utilized by Sir George Cayley in the early 19th century.

He published a derivation for the maximum energy obtainable from a turbine in 1920, at the same time as German scientist Albert Betz [3] . This is known controversially as Betz's law, as this result was also derived by British scientist Frederick W. Lanchester. This is a famous example of Stigler's law of eponymy.

Albert Betz was a German physicist and a pioneer of wind turbine technology.

Betzs law

Betz's law indicates the maximum power that can be extracted from the wind, independent of the design of a wind turbine in open flow. It was published in 1919, by the German physicist Albert Betz. The law is derived from the principles of conservation of mass and momentum of the air stream flowing through an idealized "actuator disk" that extracts energy from the wind stream. According to Betz's law, no turbine can capture more than 16/27 (59.3%) of the kinetic energy in wind. The factor 16/27 (0.593) is known as Betz's coefficient. Practical utility-scale wind turbines achieve at peak 75% to 80% of the Betz limit.

Frederick W. Lanchester British polymath

Frederick William Lanchester LLD, Hon FRAeS, FRS, was an English polymath and engineer who made important contributions to automotive engineering and to aerodynamics, and co-invented the topic of operations research.

He died in Moscow in 1921.

Recognition

A city near Moscow and the crater Zhukovskiy on the Moon are both named in his honor.

Zhukovsky, Moscow Oblast City in Moscow Oblast, Russia

Zhukovsky is a city in Moscow Oblast, Russia, located on the Moskva River, 40 kilometers (25 mi) southeast of Moscow. Population: 104,736 (2010 Census); 101,328 (2002 Census); 100,609 (1989 Census).

Zhukovskiy (crater) lunar crater

Zhukovskiy is a lunar impact crater that lies on the far side of the Moon. It forms a pair with Lebedinskiy, which is attached to the eastern rim. There are no other named craters of note in the immediate vicinity, although the immense walled plain Korolev lies farther to the southeast.

The State Zhukovsky Prize was established in 1920 'for the best works in mathematics'.

The Russian Air Force's engineering academy was named for him, later reorganized into the Zhukovsky – Gagarin Air Force Academy. In May 2016, Moscow's fourth largest airport was named in his honor.

Mosfilm produced a 1950 eponymous biopic directed by Vsevolod Pudovkin with music by Vissarion Shebalin, which earned Pudovkin and Shebalin the USSR State Prize in 1951.

The Russian Central Aero-Hydrodynamic Institute and the Ukrainian National Aerospace University – Kharkiv Aviation Institute are named after him.

The Zhukovsky House is a museum dedicated to his memory

See also

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References

  1. His surname is usually romanised as Joukovsky or Joukowsky in the literature. See for example Joukowsky transform, Kutta–Joukowski theorem and so on.
  2. Blackmore, John T. (1972). Ernst Mach; His Work, Life, and Influence. University of California Press. ISBN   9780520018495 . Retrieved 16 December 2017.
  3. Gijs A.M. van Kuik, The Lanchester-Betz-Joukowsky Limit Archived 2011-06-09 at the Wayback Machine ., Wind Energ. 2007; 10:289-291