Aerodynamic Similarity of Winged and Lifting Space Vehicles

Abstract

The aerodynamic data of winged and lifting space vehicles are considered. Recently, there was an investigation with respect to the longitudinal aerodynamics of these vehicles in the supersonic and hypersonic Mach number regimes with the astonishing result that for the lift and drag coefficients a similarity with regard to the geometrical configuration could be observed. It was shown that by introducing a homogenizing reference area with which the related quantities were made dimensionless, fully similar solutions of the lift coefficient and partly similar solutions of the drag coefficients are achieved. In the present paper this investigation is extended to the pitching moment coefficient. Further a generalized fit equation on the basis of exponential functions is constructed, which is able to approximate all the longitudinal aerodynamic coefficients for the supersonic and hypersonic Mach numbers. Finally the potential of these findings are demonstrated by some examples.