Foundational terms in aerospace engineering — the shared vocabulary of aeronautics and astronautics.
Fluid dynamics
- Atmosphere — the gaseous envelope whose properties vary with altitude
- Viscosity — a fluid’s resistance to shearing motion, creating boundary layers and governing Reynolds number
- Laminar and Turbulent Flow — the two fundamental states of fluid flow
- Flow Separation — detachment of the boundary layer, the mechanism behind stall and pressure drag
- Bernoulli Equation — the pressure-velocity relationship in incompressible flow
- Dynamic Pressure — ½ρv², governing aerodynamic forces and structural loads
- Navier-Stokes Equations — the fundamental equations of viscous fluid motion
Flight mechanics
- Airspeed — the speed relative to the surrounding air mass
- Mach Number — velocity relative to the speed of sound, defining compressibility regime
- Center of Pressure — the point where aerodynamic forces act, governing stability
- Stability — the tendency to return to equilibrium after disturbance
- Thrust — the reaction force from accelerating a working fluid
Structural mechanics
- Stress — internal force per unit area within a material
- Strain — deformation per unit length under load
- Young’s Modulus — the ratio of stress to strain, measuring material stiffness
- Yield Strength — the stress at which permanent deformation begins
- Bending Moment — internal moment from transverse loads, the dominant wing load
- Shear Force — internal force perpendicular to a member’s axis
- Torsion — twisting load about a member’s longitudinal axis
- Structural Load — forces and moments the vehicle structure must withstand
Environment and thermodynamics
- Heat Transfer — conduction, convection, and radiation in aerospace thermal design
- Shock Wave — abrupt pressure discontinuity in supersonic flow
- Orbital Mechanics — the physics of motion under gravitational attraction