Evaluation of fluidic thrust vectoring nozzle via thrust pitching angle and thrust pitching moment

Abstract

Shock vector control (SVC) in a converging–diverging nozzle with a rectangular cross-section is discussed as a fluidic thrust vectoring (FTV) method. The interaction between the primary nozzle flow and the secondary jet is examined using experiments and numerical simulations. The relationships between FTV parameters [nozzle pressure ratio (NPR) and secondary jet pressure ratio (SPR)] and FTV performance (thrust pitching angle and thrust pitching moment) are investigated. The experiments are conducted with an NPR of up to 10 and an SPR of up to 2.7. Numerical simulations of the nozzle flow are performed using a Navier-Stokes solver with input parameters set to match the experimental conditions. The thrust pitching angle and moment computed from the force-moment balance are used to evaluate FTV performance. The experiment and numerical results indicate that the FTV parameters (NPR and SPR) directly affect FTV performance. Conventionally, FTV performance evaluated by the common method using thrust pitching angle is highly dependent on the location of evaluation. Hence, in this study, we show that the thrust pitching moment, a parameter which is independent of the location, is the appropriate figure of merit to evaluate the performance of FTV systems.