Anti-shock body is the name given by Richard T. Whitcomb to a pod positioned on the upper surface of a wing.[1] Its purpose is to reduce wave drag while travelling at transonic speeds (Mach 0.8–1.0), which includes the typical cruising range of conventional jet airliners. The Cambridge Aerospace Dictionary defines shock body (also known as Whitcomb body, Küchemann carrot or speed bump) as a streamlined volume added to improve area rule distribution.[2]
The anti-shock, or shock, body was one of a number of ways of implementing what was then the recently developed area rule. Another was fuselage shaping.
- ^ Whitcomb, Richard T. (June 1958). "NACA Technical Note 4293 - Special bodies added on a wing to reduce shock-induced boundary-layer separation at high subsonic speeds" (PDF). Retrieved 30 October 2022.
- ^ "The Cambridge Aerospace Dictionary".
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