PDAS home > Contents
Public Domain Aeronautical Software (PDAS)  

The twelfth production release of this collection of aeronautical programs consists of the following programs. Additional information on each program may be found by following the highlited link.

Analysis of Aircraft Motions Derive aircraft motions, forces, and accelerations from radar range data.
Arrow Wing Wave Drag Closed form solution for the wave drag of an arrow or delta wing with sharp edges based on work of Rogers and Puckett and Stewart.
Atmosphere Characteristics of the 1976 standard atmosphere to 1000 km altitude. An atmosphere procedure is given that you may include in your own programs. Separate versions are supplied in Basic, C, Fortran, Pascal, C++, and Fortran90, Visual Basic and Delphi, IDL, and Python. Sample programs are included that print an atmosphere table. Non-standard atmosphere routines (hot, cold, polar, tropical) are also included.
Compressible Flow Calculator Make calculations involving isentropic flow, normal shock waves, oblique shock waves, Rayleigh and Fanno flow, and characteristics of the standard atmosphere. Based on a program by Tom Benson of NASA Glenn for SGI machines.
Computer Methods for Mathematical Calculation The software from the classic textbook by Forsythe, Malcolm and Moler has been rewritten in modern Fortran along with the sample problems and a number of the end-of-chapter problems. You probably need a copy of the book.
Contour Plotter Plot contours from data supplied at an arbitrary set of data points. From NASA Ames.
Digital Datcom Estimate stability and control characteristics of a wide variety of airplane and missile configurations with this famous USAF program. Adapted for PC use. Has all example cases from the document, both input and output. Also includes the complete 3000 page theory document as PDF.
Eppler The well-known Eppler airfoil program including boundary layer analysis.
Fair Data Compute the coefficients of a smoothing spline that approximates a set of data. Originally designed to be used for wind tunnel data but may be applicable to diverse applications.
Geometry Conversion Convert the geometry information for the WaveDrag and WingBody into WGS for input to the hidden-line program. Display your vehicle concepts.
Flow Field in Supersonic Inlet Based on 2D or axisymmetric method of characteristics. Includes original NASA document in PDF. NASA Ames program by Virginia Sorensen.
Fluid Properties A companion program to GasProperties computes thermodynamic and transport properties of many gases. Treats air and steam as well as pure fluids. Includes original NASA document in PDF. From NASA Glenn (Lewis).
GasProperties Compute real gas properties of ten important gases over a wide range of temperatures and pressures. Covers cryogenic regions and saturated liquid/gas regions. Includes original NASA document in PDF. From NASA Glenn (Lewis).
GRAPE Two-Dimensional Grids About Airfoils And Other Shapes By The Use Of Poisson's Equation>
Hypersonic Aerodynamics for Arbitrary Bodies. This is a totally new program based on the USAF program written by Gentry, Smyth and Oliver of Douglas Aircraft. Currently, only the inviscid methods are coded. The geometry is supplied in LaWgs (Langley Wireframe Geometry Standard).
Induced Drag from Span Load Distribution. This is a popular algorithm for computing the span load distribution on a planar wing when only a few sparse values of the loading are known.
Line Interpolation and Line Intersection Tools to help you get those needed data points when doing an airplane layout.
Mean Aerodynamic Chord Compute the mean aerodynamic chord of a wing of arbitrary planform.
Kernel Function Compute unsteady aerodynamics with a kernel function technique which uses assumed pressure functions with unknown coefficients.
Mass Properties Of A Rigid Structure Rapidly calculate the mass properties of complex rigid structural systems.
NACA Airfoils. The coordinates of 4-digit, 4-digit-modified, 5-digit, 6-series, and 16-series airfoils may be accurately calculated. Newly modified to present upper and lower surface points at the same x-coordinate. Totally recoded in Fortran 95 using modules. Includes copies of several NACA and NASA documents.
Optimal Regulator Algorithms For The Control Of Linear Systems Design controllers and optimal filters for systems which can be modeled by linear, time-invariant differential and difference equations. Includes original NASA report as PDF.
Optimum Trajectory of a Turbojet Airplane Computes the optimum climb path as well as best cruising altitude for a turbojet. From NASA Ames.
Pablo Compute aerodynamic properties of an airfoil with boundary layer. Similar to Eppler, but coded with MatLab.
Panair (A502) High order aerodynamic panel code. The most versatile and accurate of all the linear theory panel codes. Subsonic/supersonic solutions with linear source strength variation and quadratic doublet strength variation. Very versatile boundary condition specifications. User's manual on disc (PDF, 20MB).
PanAir input pre-processor Helps create the carefully formatted input files to PanAir.
Polynomial Root Finder Solves quartic/cubic/quadratic polynomial equations with real coefficients taking special care in accuracy and precision.
Quiz Program An educational drill program that will teach you the aviation phonetic alphabet, 3-letter airport codes and more. Easily adaptable to other instructional tasks
3-view and Silhouette Perspective views of an arbitrary configuration defined by wireframe meshes of gridpoints with hidden line removal. Written by David Hedgley of NASA Dryden. A very simple program called 3view is also included that produces plan, side, and rear views from the same input file.
Solar Powered Satellite Computes the solar energy incident on photoelectric array and determines the thermal radiation gained and lost. Once these are known, the amount of power which can be generated and the temperature of the array is determined.
Space Shuttle Synthesis Program Estimates the size and performance of a launch vehicle.
Tidy A program for renumbering statements in a Fortran program.
Turbulent skin friction A coding of the reference temperature method of Barbara Short and Simon Sommer of NASA Ames.
Variable Dimension Automatic Synthesis Program VASP is a variable dimension Fortran version of the Automatic Synthesis Program, used to implement Kalman filtering and control theory. Includes the original NASA report as PDF.
Virtual Reality This program makes a VRML model (a .wrl file) from a wireframe geometry in LaWGS format.
Visualize Three-Dimensional Surfaces Visualize a function of two variables. Includes original NASA document in PDF. From NASA Lewis.
Vortex Lattice Minimum Drag (VLMD) This is one of many versions of the vortex lattice aerodynamic program from the low speed aerodynamics group at NASA Langley.
Wave Drag by Area Rule This is the famous Harris Wave Drag Program from NASA Langley.
WingBody panel code Subsonic/Supersonic Aerodynamics of simple wing-body-tail combinations. This is the Woodward panel code that includes calculation of the wing shape for minimum drag in supersonic cruise.
Wireframe generator Creates wireframe models of simple wings and bodies.

All programs are supplied with complete public domain source code. Executable programs are included for all programs. Sample cases (both input and output) are included along with instructions for preparation of input files. You may use any of the programs or subroutines in your aeronautical projects.

PDAS home > Contents
Public Domain Aeronautical Software (PDAS)