Flush Air Data Sensing System for a Sharp-Nosed Hypersonic Vehicle with Curved-Wedge Forebody

Abstract

A new algorithm for a flush air data sensing (FADS) system was developed to estimate flight data and attitude angles for a sharp-nosed hypersonic vehicle in a framework of a hypersonic flight demonstration project directed by the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency at the Kakuda Space Center. The design’s target condition is Mach 5.0–7.0 with angles of attack and sideslip within 6°. The FADS system relates air data and pressures from surface-mounted pressure ports on the forebody of the vehicle to generate lookup tables that are used to estimate the angle of attack, freestream Mach number, static pressure, and dynamic pressure. These data are also used to generate an angle-of-sideslip estimate from triples algorithm, which has been well-established for a blunt-nosed body. The estimation algorithm used by the designed FADS system is validated through numerical simulation, which was also used to generate lookup tables and wind tunnel experiments. Results indicated that the designed FADS system can estimate air data within the uncertainty of 6% for freestream conditions and within 0.7° for the angles of attack and sideslip in the range of targeted flight conditions.