Theoretical and numerical investigation of wedge and cone nose profiles at supersonic speed

Abstract

This research endeavor seeks to analyze the nose shapes of a wedge and a cone through simulations conducted with the ANSYS-FLUENT software. When designing missiles and aerodynamic vehicles for high speed, the selection of nose shape is thought to be the most crucial. The aerodynamic bodies traveling at supersonic speeds experience a pronounced influence of fluid compressibility, wherein high-speed fluid particles impart their kinetic energy as heat upon interacting with the frontal surface. The primary difficulty is that missiles and aerodynamic vehicles with high aerodynamic loads depend heavily on the shape of their noses. Therefore, the purpose of this research work is to compare the shape of the wedge and the conical nose at Mach number 2.0. A numerical simulation is used to estimate aerodynamic properties such as downstream Mach number, shock wave angle, pressure ratio, density ratio, temperature ratio, and aerodynamic coefficient, and the results are compared with theoretical results, which are obtained to solve oblique shock relation and Taylor–Maccoll equation. The conical-shaped nose model exhibits superior aerodynamic characteristics compared to the wedged-shaped nose.