Mach number

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An F/A-18 Hornet creating a vapor cone at transonic speed just before reaching t
he speed of sound
In fluid dynamics, the Mach number (M or Ma) (/m??x/; German: [ma?]) is a dimens
ionless quantity representing the ratio of flow velocity past a boundary to the
local speed of sound.[1][2]
{\displaystyle \mathrm {M} ={\frac {u}{c}},} \mathrm {M} ={\frac {u}{c}},
where:
M is the Mach number,
u is the local flow velocity with respect to the boundaries (either internal, su
ch as an object immersed in the flow, or external, like a channel), and
c is the speed of sound in the medium.
By definition, Mach 1 is equal to the speed of sound. Mach 0.65 is 65% of the sp
eed of sound (subsonic), and Mach 1.35 is 35% faster than the speed of sound (su
personic).
The local speed of sound, and thereby the Mach number, depends on the condition
of the surrounding medium, in particular the temperature. The Mach number is pri
marily used to determine the approximation with which a flow can be treated as a
n incompressible flow. The medium can be a gas or a liquid. The boundary can be
traveling in the medium, or it can be stationary while the medium flows along it
, or they can both be moving, with different velocities: what matters is their r
elative velocity with respect to each other. The boundary can be the boundary of
an object immersed in the medium, or of a channel such as a nozzle, diffusers o
r wind tunnels channeling the medium. As the Mach number is defined as the ratio
of two speeds, it is a dimensionless number. If M < 0.2 0.3 and the flow is quasi
-steady and isothermal, compressibility effects will be small and simplified inc
ompressible flow equations can be used.[1][2]
The Mach number is named after Austrian physicist and philosopher Ernst Mach, an
d is a designation proposed by aeronautical engineer Jakob Ackeret. As the Mach
number is a dimensionless quantity rather than a unit of measure, with Mach, the
number comes after the unit; the second Mach number is "Mach 2" instead of "2 M
ach" (or Machs). This is somewhat reminiscent of the early modern ocean sounding
unit "mark" (a synonym for fathom), which was also unit-first, and may have inf
luenced the use of the term Mach. In the decade preceding faster-than-sound huma
n flight, aeronautical engineers referred to the speed of sound as Mach's number
, never "Mach 1."[3]
Contents [hide]
1 Overview
2 Classification of Mach regimes
3 High-speed flow around objects
4 High-speed flow in a channel
5 Calculation
5.1 Calculating Mach number from Pitot tube pressure
6 See also
7 Notes
8 External links