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At least 343 records · Page 19

Progress in supersonic cruise technology

The Supersonic Cruise Research (SCR) program identified significant improvements in the technology areas of aerodynamics, structures, propulsion, noise reduction, takeoff and landing procedures, and advanced configuration concepts. These improvements, when combined in a large supersonic cruise vehicle, offer a far greater technology advance than generally realized. They offer the promise of an advanced commercial family of aircraft which are environmentally acceptable, have flexible range-payload capability, and are economically viable. These same areas of technology have direct application to smaller advanced military aircraft and to supersonic executive aircraft. Several possible applications will be addressed.

Driver, C.↗

Development and analysis of a STOL supersonic cruise fighter concept

The application of advanced and emerging technologies to a fighter aircraft concept is described. The twin-boom fighter (TBF-1) relies on a two dimensional vectoring/reversing nozzle to provide STOL performance while also achieving efficient long range supersonic cruise. A key feature is that the propulsion package is placed so that the nozzle hinge line is near the aircraft center-of-gravity to allow large vector angles and, thus, provide large values of direct lift while minimizing the moments to be trimmed. The configurations name is derived from the long twin booms extending aft of the engine to the twin vertical tails which have a single horizontal tail mounted atop and between them. Technologies utilized were an advanced engine (1985 state-of-the-art), superplastic formed/diffusion bonded titanium structure, advanced controls/avionics/displays, supersonic wing design, and conformal weapons carriage. The integration of advanced technologies into this concept indicate that large gains in takeoff and landing performance, maneuver, acceleration, supersonic cruise speed, and range can be acieved relative to current fighter concepts.

Dollyhigh, S. M.↗

An evaluation of supersonic STOVL technology

The purpose of this paper is to document the status of supersonic STOVL aircraft technology. The major focus is the presentation of summaries of pertinent aspects of supersonic STOVL technology, such as justification for STOVL aircraft, current designs and their recognized areas of uncertainty, recent research programs, current activities, plans, etc. The remainder of the paper is an evaluation of the performance differential between a current supersonic STOVL design and three production (or near production) fighters, one of them the AV-8B. The results indicate that there is not a large range difference between a STOL aircraft and a STOVL aircraft, and that other aspects of performance, such as field performance or combat maneuverability, may more than make up for this decrement.

Kidwell, G. H., Jr.↗

Nonlinear aerodynamic effects on bodies in supersonic flow

The supersonic flow about generic bodies was analyzed to identify the elments of the nonlinear flow and to determine the influence of geometry and flow conditions on the magnitude of these nonlinearities. The nonlinear effects were attributed to separated-flow nonlinearities and attached-flow nonlinearities. The nonlinear attached-flow contribution was further broken down into large-disturbance effects and entropy effects. Conical, attached-flow bundaries were developed to illustrate the flow regimes where the nonlinear effects are significant, and the use of these boundaries for angle of attack and three-dimensional geometries was indicated. Normal-force and pressure comparisons showed that the large-disturbance and separated-flow effects were the dominant nonlinear effects at low supersonic Mach numbers and that the entropy effects were dominant for high supersonic Mach number flow. The magnitude of all the nonlinear effects increased with increasing angle of attack. A full-potential method, NCOREL, which includes an approximate entropy correction, was shown to provide accurate attached-flow pressure estimates from Mach 1.6 through 4.6.

Pittman, J. L.↗

Nonlinear computation of wing-body-vertical tail-wake flows at low supersonic speeds

A numerical method based on the conservation form of the full potential equation has been applied to the problem of three-dimensional supersonic flows with embedded subsonic regions. The governing equation is cast in a nonorthogonal coordinate system, and the theory of characteristics is used to accurately monitor the type-dependent flow field. A conservative switching scheme is employed to transition from the supersonic marching procedure to a subsonic relaxation algorithm and vice versa. The newly developed computer program can handle arbitrary geometries with fuselage, wing, vertical tail and wake components at combined angle of attack and sideslip. Results are presented for a low supersonic Mach numbers flow over the Shuttle orbiter (including the OMS pods and vertical tail), and for flows over a realistic fighter type configuration. Comparisons with experimental data are shown to be in good agreement for various cases.

Szema, K.-Y.↗

Interactive phenomena in supersonic jet mixing problems. I Phenomenology and numerical modeling techniques

The interactive phenomena that occur in supersonic jet mixing flowfields, and numerical modeling techniques developed to analyze such phenomena are discussed. A spatial marching procedure based on solving the parabolized Navier-Stokes jet mixing equations is presented. This procedure combines shock-capturing methodology for the analysis of supersonic mixing regions with pressure-split methodology for the analysis of subsonic mixing regions. The two regions are coupled at viscous sonic lines utilizing a viscous-characteristic coupling procedure. Specialized techniques for the treatment of jet boundary growth, strong discontinuties (Mach disks), and small embedded subsonic zones (behind Mach disks) are presented. Turbulent processes are represented by two-equation turbulence model formulations. In Part II of this article, numerical studies are presented for a variety of supersonic jet interactive phenomena.

Dash, S. M.↗

Shock capturing finite difference algorithms for supersonic flow past fighter and missile type configurations

The construction of a reliable, shock capturing finite difference method to solve the Euler equations for inviscid, supersonic flow past fighter and missile type configurations is highly desirable. The numerical method must have a firm theoretical foundation and must be robust and efficient. It should be able to treat subsonic pockets in a predominantly supersonic flow. The method must also be easily applicable to the complex topologies of the aerodynamic configuration under consideration. The ongoing approach to this task is described and for steady supersonic flows is presented. This scheme is the basic numerical method. Results of work obtained during previous years are presented.

Osher, S.↗

Supersonic nonlinear potential analysis

The NCOREL computer code was established to compute supersonic flow fields of wings and bodies. The method encompasses an implicit finite difference transonic relaxation method to solve the full potential equation in a spherical coordinate system. Two basic topic to broaden the applicability and usefulness of the present method which is encompassed within the computer code NCOREL for the treatment of supersonic flow problems were studied. The first topic is that of computing efficiency. Accelerated schemes are in use for transonic flow problems. One such scheme is the approximate factorization (AF) method and an AF scheme to the supersonic flow problem is developed. The second topic is the computation of wake flows. The proper modeling of wake flows is important for multicomponent configurations such as wing-body and multiple lifting surfaces where the wake of one lifting surface has a pronounced effect on a downstream body or other lifting surfaces.

Siclari, M. J.↗

Periodic vortex shedding in the supersonic wake of a planar plate

Vortex sheets in the wake have been mainly studied in incompressible flows and in the transonic region. Heinemann et al. (1976) have shown that for the subsonic region the Strouhal number is nearly independent of the Mach number. Motallebi and Norbury (1981) have observed an increase in the Strouhal number in transonic supersonic flow at Mach numbers up to 1.25. The present investigation is concerned with an extension of the studies of vortex shedding to higher supersonic Mach numbers, taking into account questions regarding the possibility of a generation of stable von Karman vortex paths in the considered Mach number range. It is found that the vortex sheet observed in a supersonic wake behind a rough plate is only stable and reproducible in cases involving a certain surface roughness and certain aspects of trailing edge geometry.

Xing, W. F.↗

Supersonic Cruise Technology

The history and status of supersonic cruise research is covered. The early research efforts of the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics and efforts during the B-70 and SST phase are included. Technological progress made during the NASA Supersonic Cruise Research and Variable Cycle Engine programs are presented. While emphasis is on NASA's contributions to supersonic cruise research in the U.S., also noted are developments in England, France, and Russia. Written in nontechnical language, this book presents the most critical technology issues and research findings.

Mclean, F. Edward↗

Use of a hyperbolic grid generation scheme in simulating supersonic viscous flow about three-dimensional winged configuration

The present paper describes a numerical mesh generation technique to be used with an implicit finite difference method for simulating visous supersonic flow about low-aspect-ratio wing body configurations using a single grid strategy. The computational domain is segmented into multiple regions, with borders located in supersonic areas to avoid the otherwise costly interfacing procedure between adjacent segments. The numerical procedure is applied to calculate the turbulent flow around the shuttle orbiter and a canard projectile at supersonic free stream Mach number.

Rizk, Y. M.↗

Assessment of preliminary prediction techniques for wing leading-edge vortex flows at supersonic speeds

A theoretical investigation of the aerodynamics of sharp leading-edge delta wings at supersonic speeds has been conducted. The primary objective of this was to determine the applicability of existing theoretical methods to predict wing leading-edge separated-flow characteristics at conditions conductive to high-lift supersonic flight. Predicted results from two modified linear-theory methods (LTSTAR and VORCAM) are compared with experimental data. Comparison of the two methods for uncambered wings revealed that the LTSTAR code is in much better agreement with experimentally measured vortex strength, vortex position, and total lifting characteristics than the VORCAM code. Selected analysis was also performed with an Euler code, SWINT. The results of this study indicated that the SWINT code was not well suited to the analysis of wings with separated flow at high lift and low supersonic speeds.

Wood, R. M.↗

Aerodynamic Characteristics of a Supersonic Fighter Aircraft Model at Mach 0.40 to 2.47

The aerodynamic characteristics of an advanced twin-engine fighter aircraft designed for supersonic cruise have been studied in the Langley 16-Foot Transonic Tunnel and the Lewis 10- by 10-Foot Supersonic Tunnel. The objective of this investigation was to establish an aerodynamic data base for the configuration with flow-through nacelles and representative inlets. The use of a canard for trim and the effects of fairing over the inlets were assessed. Comparisons between experimental and theoretical results were also made. The theoretical results were determined by using a potential vortex lift code for subsonic speeds and a linear aerodynamic code for supersonic speeds. This investigation was conducted at Mach numbers from 0.40 to 2.47, at angles of attack from 0 deg to about 20 deg, and at inlet capture ratios of about 0.5 to 1.4.

Capone, F. J.↗

Numerical analysis of some supersonic viscous flows related to inlet and nozzle systems

A numerical method originally developed for three-dimensional supersonic inlet flow calculations is extended and applied to the study of two-dimensional and three-dimensional flows associated with arbitrary propulsion systems. The method is based on the forward spatial marching solution of a reduced form of the three-dimensional steady Navier-Stokes equations in which streamwise pressure gradients are retained in both the subsonic and supersonic regions. The present paper briefly describes the analysis and then shows three applications. In the first application, a wall transpiration study has been performed for the two-dimensional shock wave/turbulent boundary layer interaction flow field with application to an inlet configuration. The second application treats a rectangular high speed inlet with a swept sideplate including the effects of sideplate spillage. Finally, the method is utilized to analyze the interaction of an under-expanded supersonic jet with an ambient flow. Computed results are examined and compared with available experimental measurements. It is demonstrated that the present numerical method is capable of numerically simulating complex two- and three-dimensional flows relevant to hypersonic propulsion systems in a manner which both shows good agreement with data when such data is available, and which shows the complex flow features in the absence of data.

Kim, Y.-N.↗

Multiscale turbulence effects in supersonic jets exhausting into still air

A modified version of the multiscale turbulence model of Hanjalic has been applied to the problem of supersonic jets exhausting into still air. In particular, the problem of shock-cell decay through turbulent interaction with the mixing layer has been studied for both mildly interacting and strongly resonant jet conditions. The modified Hanjalic model takes into account the nonequilibrium energy transfer between two different turbulent spectral scales. The turbulence model was incorporated into an existing shock-capturing, parabolized Navier-Stokes computational model in order to perform numerical experiments. The results show that the two-scale turbulence model provides significant improvement over one-scale models in the prediction of plume shock structure for underexpanded supersonic (Mach 2) and sonic (Mach 1) jets. For the supersonic jet, excellent agreement with experiment was obtained for the centerline shock-cell pressure decay up to 40 jet radii. For the sonic jet, the agreement with experiment was not so good, but the two-scale model still showed significant improvement over the one-scale model. It is shown that by relating some of the coefficients in the turbulent-transport equations to the relative time scale for transfer of energy between scales the two-scale model can provide predictions that bound the measured shock-cell decay rate for the sonic jet.

Abdol-Hamid, Khaled S.↗

Program LRCDM2: Improved aerodynamic prediction program for supersonic canard-tail missiles with axisymmetric bodies

Program LRCDM2 was developed for supersonic missiles with axisymmetric bodies and up to two finned sections. Predicted are pressure distributions and loads acting on a complete configuration including effects of body separated flow vorticity and fin-edge vortices. The computer program is based on supersonic panelling and line singularity methods coupled with vortex tracking theory. Effects of afterbody shed vorticity on the afterbody and tail-fin pressure distributions can be optionally treated by companion program BDYSHD. Preliminary versions of combined shock expansion/linear theory and Newtonian/linear theory have been implemented as optional pressure calculation methods to extend the Mach number and angle-of-attack ranges of applicability into the nonlinear supersonic flow regime. Comparisons between program results and experimental data are given for a triform tail-finned configuration and for a canard controlled configuration with a long afterbody for Mach numbers up to 2.5. Initial tests of the nonlinear/linear theory approaches show good agreement for pressures acting on a rectangular wing and a delta wing with attached shocks for Mach numbers up to 4.6 and angles of attack up to 20 degrees.

Dillenius, Marnix F. E.↗

Three-dimensional computations of transverse hydrogen jet combustion in a supersonic airstream

A computational fluid dynamics (CFD) code is being developed to compute the mixing and combustion of hydrogen fuel in the turbulent flow fields of supersonic combustion ramjets (scramjet). The code solves the three-dimensional Reynolds time-averaged complete Navier-Stokes equations including transport equations for a four species, two reaction, global finite rate chemistry model. The code was applied to the case of transverse injection of hydrogen from a sonic circular orifice into a supersonic airstream. The equations were numerically integrated using MacCormack's explicit method, and the algebraic eddy viscosity model of Baldwin-Lomax was used to model the turbulence. In the species transport and energy equations, diffusion coefficients based on Fick's Law and an assumption of unit Lewis number were applied. Computed features of the three-dimensional flow field are depicted by static pressure, static temperature, mass fraction of species, and velocity vectors. For engineering interest, mixing and combustion parameters were examined to assess the effect of injector diameter, injected fuel pressure, fuel-air ratio, and spacing of fuel injectors. The objective of the present paper is to demonstrate the capability of the present three-dimensional spatially elliptic, CFD code for turbulent, reacting flow. Application of the code to specific supersonic combustion configurations is planned.

Uenishi, K.↗

Aeroelastic control of stability and forced response of supersonic rotors by aerodynamic detuning

Aerodynamic detuning, defined as designed passage-to-passage differences in the unsteady aerodynamic flow field of a rotor blade row, is a new approach to passive flutter and forced response control. In this paper, a mathematical model for aerodynamic detuning is developed and utilized to demonstrate the aeroelastic stability enhancement due to aerodynamic detuning of supersonic blade rows. In particular, a model is developed to analyze both the torsion mode and the coupled bending-torsion mode unstalled supersonic flutter and torsion mode aerodynamically forced response characteristics of an aerodynamically detuned rotor operating in a supersonic inlet flow field with a subsonic leading edge locus. As small solidity variations do not have a dominant effect on the steady-state performance of a rotor, the aerodynamic detuning mechanism considered is nonuniform circumferential spacing of adjacent blades.

Hoyniak, Daniel↗