Effect of Flap Deflection on Single-Expansion-Ramp Nozzles Performance at Different Pressure Ratios

Abstract

Experiments have been carried out to investigate the various performance characteristics of single-expansion-ramp nozzle with straight and deflected flap conditions for two different flap lengths. Experiments were performed at different nozzle pressure ratios (NPRs) ranging between 1.5 and 9. Wall static pressure measurements were made to estimate the various performance parameters, such as surface axial force, normal force, overall axial force, pitching moment, and thrust vectoring angles. Schlieren flow visualization technique was adopted to understand the internal shock-induced flow separation and shock patterns inside the nozzle under various NPRs. Flap deflection and NPR control the shock location through area variation, and thus the pressure distribution on the walls. At low NPRs, the internal drag force generated by deflected flap is lesser than that by straight flap, whereas at high NPRs the straight flap produces significantly higher surface axial thrust over the deflected flap. Behavior of normal force and pitching moment was affected by two factors: flap length and shock location. The straight flap shows significantly higher normal force than deflected flap. Hence, the thrust vectoring was better for straight flap nozzles compared to deflected flap nozzles, over the full range of NPRs tested. On the other hand, the gross thrust force performance is better for the straight flap for low NPRs and for the deflected flap for high NPRs. Overall, at high speeds, longer deflected flap appears to give better performance considering all the parameters, but will lead to heavier nozzle.