Low speed lateral-directional aerodynamic and static stability analysis of a hypersonic waverider

Abstract

Hypersonic waveriders have the potential to significantly reduce travel times on long haul civilian transport routes. The design of hypersonic aircraft is heavily influenced by the aerodynamic efficiency at the cruise Mach number, resulting in less than ideal geometries for subsonic flight. Waverider aerodynamics and stability in the low speed regime is rarely investigated and not well understood, but is crucial for horizontal take-offs and landings. This paper presents a combination of numerical simulation results and experimental data for the low speed propelled variant of the Mach 8 HEXAFLY-INT waverider. Aerodynamic, control and stability testing for lateral-directional cases was conducted in the University of Sydney 4 foot by 3 foot low speed facility. Computational fluid dynamics simulations are compared with wind tunnel tests for angles of attack between -5 and 15 degrees and angles of sideslip between -8 and 8 degrees. Throughout these ranges, aileron and rudder deflections up to 10 degrees are investigated. Results show that the vehicle aerodynamics are dominated by asymmetric wing and fin vortices, resulting in non-linear aerodynamic forces. At a centre of gravity location of 44.4% of the vehicle length the aircraft is stable directionally, but has lateral instability at angles of attack below -2 degrees. This is attributed to the low mounted wings with anhedral. The instability is minor and is not expected to result in an uncontrollable condition. Lowering the centre of gravity by approximately 2 centimetres, or 17% of the local fuselage height, can correct the instability. Lateral-directional dynamic stability was predicted using static derivatives and was found to be stable through the entire AoA range tested, with no dependence on mass moments of inertia. Both aileron and rudder controls are found to provide sufficient control authority, but the aircraft may benefit from increased rudder size. The results from this study, along with previous work on longitudinal stability and performance show the feasibility of moving to the flight test program, but aircraft dynamic stability must first be investigated.