Abstract
THE object of this article is to give a short account of some features of the motion of a spinning shell through air. Our knowledge of this phenomenon has been somewhat increased by war-time researches. To determine the motion of a shell from the equations of rigid dynamics, we require to know the complete force system which represents the reaction of the air on the moving shell; but, just as in the case of an aeroplane, the components of this reaction are utterly unknown a priori. The problem that arises, therefore, is that of determining these components by observation and analysis of the actual initial motion of shells. Once they have thus been determined, they can be applied, provided the essential conditions remain similar, to the calculation of the complete motion of a shell along its trajectory.
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FOWLER, R. The Dynamics of Shell Flight. Nature 105, 459–461 (1920). https://doi.org/10.1038/105459a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/105459a0