detached shock and consequent losses. In order to swallow the shock, a fixed-
geometry diffuser must be overspeeded. However, as shown in Fig. 6.9, as
the design Mach number increases, the required overspeeding increases very
rapidly, so that even if the aircraft could be infinitely overspeeded, the design
Mach number would be limited to a finite value. Assuming one-dimensional
flow and constant y (1.4), determine the absolute maximum design Mach
number for which an otherwise isentropic diffuser of fixed geometry may be
expected to start, any amount of overspeed being possible.