This script was written as a coding exercise to automate a method of characteristics coursework to be completed in Excel.

The method of characteristics is a numerical technique that can be used to design the diverging section of a supersonic nozzle such that the exit flow will be uniform, at a specified Mach number, and without shocks. The method relies on the assumption that the flow is steady, inviscid, and irrotational. Because of constant stagnation enthalpy and zero vorticity, the flow is also homentropic – entropy is constant everywhere. The case discussed here is for a 2D planar flow.