Aerodynamic shape optimization of the vortex-shock integrated waverider over a wide speed range

Abstract

The vortex-shock integrated waverider over a wide speed range could significantly improve the aerodynamic performance of traditional waveriders by introducing the vortex effect at subsonic speeds. Therefore, it is promising to be widely used in the design of wide-speed-range aerospace vehicles. However, the design of the vortex-shock integrated waverider ignores the three-dimensional effect, the subsonic effect, and the viscous effect in the establishment of the reference flow field, which fails to obtain the expected ideal performance. Therefore, it is necessary to further improve the wide-speed-range performance of the vortex-shock integrated waverider by employing the aerodynamic shape optimization method. In this study, the wide-speed-range multipoint optimization of the vortex-shock integrated waverider is carried out using a gradient-based optimizer combined with adjoint gradient evaluations. The results show that the optimum configuration increases the subsonic lift and lift-to-drag ratio by 6.7 % and 7.1 %, while increasing the hypersonic lift-to-drag ratio by 1.4 %. The improvement of the aerodynamic performance at subsonic speeds is attributed to the enhancement of the leeward vortex effect. Also, the leeward surface near the leading edge is optimized to an inner concave region to further enhance the vortex lift, while guaranteeing against the volume decline. Furthermore, the Detached Eddy Simulation (DES) method and the Dynamic Mode Decomposition (DMD) method are used to analyze the vortex dynamic characteristics at subsonic speeds. By analyzing the first three modes, it is observed that the aerodynamic performance of the optimum configuration is improved mainly by the frequency reduction and the increase of the pressure difference between the windward and the leeward surface, which enhance the stability and strength of the vortex.