Design and investigation of equal cone-variable Mach number waverider in hypersonic flow

Abstract

A new design idea is put forward to adapt the design requirement of wide-speed range vehicle in the paper. The novel points are that the design Mach number and shock flowfield are variable continuously in the design methodology. The design process is introduced about the wide-speed waverider and the repeatability function is achieved systematically by means of the parameterized modeling. In order to validate the advantages of the new approach during the wide-speed range, the flowfield characteristics are investigated numerically in the paper. The numerical method is validated by comparing the simulation results with wind tunnel experiment data. The obtained results show that the wide-speed range waverider could be obtained easily by the parameterized modeling. For the variable Mach number waverider, the pressure drag accounts for the main part of total drag, about 60∼70%. The percentage of viscous drag increases and that of the rear drag decreases with the increase of flow velocity. The viscous L/D of Case 5 does not change obviously during the wide-speed range. The variable Mach number waverider holds the steady aerodynamic performance during the wide-speed range. This shows that the new design method is very useful for the integrated design of wide-speed hypersonic vehicles.