Hypersonic transatmospheric and exoatmospheric vehicle design using the SUAVE tool

Abstract

This work reports the introduction of a set of low-fidelity aerodynamic and propulsion models to the preliminary vehicle design suite SUAVE. This enables the capability to predict transatmospheric and exoatmospheric hypersonic flight performance. Verification and validation for the different subsystem modules have been carried out against existing data, namely regarding the propulsion (ramjet, scramjet, LOX/LH2 rocket, combined-cycle engines) and aerothermodynamic (reentry) subcomponents. Two sample test-cases, based on the vehicular properties of the SR-72 vehicle (size and wing area) have been analyzed. A flight range of about 10,000 km for a flight time between 1 h (exoatmospheric flight) and 2h30 (transatmospheric flight) has been determined for a set of theoretical reasonable efficiencies for the subcomponents (chiefly propulsion). The obtained results provide a contribution to hypersonic vehicle development roadmaps, proposing two credible mission profiles (trans- and exoatmospheric) and highlighting the key role of propulsion technology development for the advancement of the state-of-the-art.