Doug McLean 
Understanding Aerodynamics 
Arguing from the Real Physics

Much-needed, fresh approach that brings a greater insight into
the physical understanding of aerodynamics

Based on the author’s decades of industrial experience
with Boeing, this book helps students and practicing engineers to
gain a greater physical understanding of aerodynamics. Relying on
clear physical arguments and examples, Mclean provides a
much-needed, fresh approach to this sometimes contentious subject
without shying away from addressing ‘real’ aerodynamic situations
as opposed to the oversimplified ones frequently used for
mathematical convenience. Motivated by the belief that engineering
practice is enhanced in the long run by a robust understanding of
the basics as well as real cause-and-effect relationships that lie
behind the theory, he provides intuitive physical interpretations
and explanations, debunking commonly-held misconceptions and
misinterpretations, and building upon the contrasts provided by
wrong explanations to strengthen understanding of the right
ones.

* Provides a refreshing view of aerodynamics that is based on the
author’s decades of industrial experience yet is always
tied to basic fundamentals.

* Provides intuitive physical interpretations and explanations,
debunking commonly-held misconceptions and misinterpretations

* Offers new insights to some familiar topics, for example, what
the Biot-Savart law really means and why it causes so much
confusion, what ‘Reynolds number’ and
‘incompressible flow’ really mean, and a real physical
explanation for how an airfoil produces lift.

* Addresses ‘real’ aerodynamic situations as opposed to the
oversimplified ones frequently used for mathematical convenience,
and omits mathematical details whenever the physical understanding
can be conveyed without them.

About the author

Doug Mclean, Boeing Commercial Airplanes, USA
Doug Mc Lean is a Boeing Technical Fellow in the Enabling Technology and Research unit within Aerodynamics Engineering at Boeing Commercial Airplanes. He received a BA in physics from the University of California at Riverside in 1965 and a Ph D in aeronautical engineering from Princeton University in 1970. He joined the Boeing Commercial Airplane Group in 1974 and has worked there ever since on a range of problems, both computational and experimental, in the areas of viscous flow, drag reduction, and aerodynamic design. Computer programs he developed for the calculation of three-dimensional boundary layers and swept shock/boundary-layer interactions were in use by wing-design groups at Boeing for many years.