Panel Methods In Fluid Mechanics With Emphasis On Aerodynamics

The GAMM Committee l'or Efficient Numercal l\1ethods l'or Partial Differential Equations (GAMM FachausschuB "Effiziente Numerische Verf'ahren fir Partielle Differentialgleichungen") organizes conferences and
serninars on subjects concerning the algorit hmic treatment of partial differential equation problerns. The two flrst sernnars "Efficient Solution of Elliptic Systems" 098S) and "Efficient Numerical Methods in Continuum
Mechancs" (986) were followed by a third one, co-organized together with the GAMM Committee l'or Dlscre tizing Methods in Solid Mechanics and the special re search project SFB 2S "Vortex Flows in Aeronaut.cs" at the R\VTH
Aachen, sponsor-ed by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft CDFGl. During the last decades PaneI Methods and Boundary Element Methods became a very efficient tool to selve numercally the integrai equations with surface or
boundary singularity distributions in Aerodynamics and in Continuum Mechanics. First designed l'or ell iptic problems with linear partial dfferent.ial equations, the different variants of the methods now apply to
nonlinearities introduced by free vortex sheets or compressible flows and to time-dependent problems as wave propagation and non-stationary Flows. The seminar was attended by 47 scientists l'rom IO countrles. A greater part of
the 22 papers presented at the seminar concerned t he different approaches l'or st.atlonary and non-stationary subsonic potential flows around aerodynamic configurations and propellers , inc1uding inverse methods l'or design problems.