Abstract

This paper presents the classic approach to minimum drag shape body problem, moving at hypersonic speeds, leading to famous power law shapes with value of the exponent of 3/4 . Two- and three-dimensional cases are considered. Furthermore, an exact pseudo solution is given and its uselessness is discussed. Two new solutions are introduced, namely an approximate solution due to form of the functional and solution by means of optimisation of a Bézier curve. The former transforms the variational problem to the classic problem of function optimisation by assuming certain class of functions, whereas the latter by means of discretised functional.