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New approaches to hypersonic aircraft
Hypersonic airbreathers aerodynamic, structural and propulsive system interactions, discussing hydrogen fuel heat sink, airframe and engine cooling and airframe materials
Hypersonic aircraft design
A hypersonic aircraft is designed which uses scramjets to accelerate from Mach 6 to Mach 10 and sustain that speed for two minutes. Different propulsion systems were considered and it was decided that the aircraft would use one full scale turbofan-ramjet. Two solid rocket boosters were added to save fuel and help the aircraft pass through the transonic region. After considering aerodynamics, aircraft design, stability and control, cooling systems, mission profile, and landing systems, a conventional aircraft configuration was chosen over that of a waverider. The conventional design was chosen due to its landing characteristics and the relative expense compared to the waverider. Fuel requirements and the integration of the engine systems and their inlets are also taken into consideration in the final design. A hypersonic aircraft was designed which uses scramjets to accelerate from Mach 6 to Mach 10 and sustain that speed for two minutes. Different propulsion systems were considered and a full scale turbofan-ramjet was chosen. Two solid rocket boosters were added to save fuel and help the aircraft pass through the transonic reqion. After the aerodynamics, aircraft design, stability and control, cooling systems, mission profile, landing systems, and their physical interactions were considered, a conventional aircraft configuration was chosen over that of a waverider. The conventional design was chosen due to its landing characteristics and the relative expense compared to the waverider. Fuel requirements and the integration of the engine systems and their inlets were also considered in the designing process.
Requirements for facilities and measurement techniques to support CFD development for hypersonic aircraft
The design of a hypersonic aircraft poses unique challenges to the engineering community. Problems with duplicating flight conditions in ground based facilities have made performance predictions risky. Computational fluid dynamics (CFD) has been proposed as an additional means of providing design data. At the present time, CFD codes are being validated based on sparse experimental data and then used to predict performance at flight conditions with generally unknown levels of uncertainty. This paper will discuss the facility and measurement techniques that are required to support CFD development for the design of hypersonic aircraft. Illustrations are given of recent success in combining experimental and direct numerical simulation in CFD model development and validation for hypersonic perfect gas flows.
Hypersonic aircraft technology and applications
Hypersonic aircraft technology, discussing long range transport, reusable launch vehicles and propulsion systems
The effects of propulsion system-airframe interactions on the performance of hypersonic aircraft.
Parametric analysis on hydrogen-fueled hypersonic aircraft for long range passenger transport missions and launch vehicle missions, noting propulsion system-airframe interactions
Some comparisons of turboramjet-powered hypersonic aircraft for cruise and boost missions.
Turboramjet powered hypersonic aircraft evaluated for cruise and boost mission for orbital launching
Retooling CFD for hypersonic aircraft
The CFD facility requirements of hypersonic aircraft configuration design development are different from those thus far employed for reentry vehicle design, because (1) the airframe and the propulsion system must be fully integrated to achieve the desired performance; (2) the vehicle must be reusable, with minimum refurbishment requirements between flights; and (3) vehicle performance must be optimized for a wide range of Mach numbers. An evaluation is presently made of flow resolution within shock waves, transition and turbulence phenomenon tractability, chemical reaction modeling, and hypersonic boundary layer transition, with state-of-the-art CFD.
Analysis of bending loads of hypersonic aircraft
Analysis of bending loads of hypersonic aircraft
Some aerodynamic problems related to the propulsion of a hypersonic aircraft
Aerodynamics of air inlet and propulsion nozzle of hypersonic aircraft
The application of active controls technology to a generic hypersonic aircraft configuration
Analytical methods are described for the prediction of aerothermoelastic stability of hypersonic aircraft including active control systems. Thermal loads due to aerodynamic heating were applied to the finite element model of the aircraft structure and the thermal effects on flutter were determined. An iterative static aeroelastic trim analysis procedure was developed including thermal effects. And active control technology was assessed for flutter suppression, ride quality improvement, and gust load alleviation to overcome any potential adverse aeroelastic stability or response problems due to aerodynamic heating. A generic hypersonic aircraft configuration was selected which incorporates wing flaps, ailerons, and all moveable fins to be used for active control purposes. The active control system would use onboard sensors in a feedback loop through the aircraft flight control computers to move the surfaces for improved structural dynamic response as the aircraft encounters atmospheric turbulence.
Scramjet exhaust simulation technique for hypersonic aircraft nozzle design and aerodynamic tests
Current design philosophy for scramjet-powered hypersonic aircraft results in configurations with the entire lower fuselage surface utilized as part of the propulsion system. The lower aft-end of the vehicle acts as a high expansion ratio nozzle. Not only must the external nozzle be designed to extract the maximum possible thrust force from the high energy flow at the combustor exit, but the forces produced by the nozzle must be aligned such that they do not unduly affect aerodynamic balance. The strong coupling between the propulsion system and aerodynamics of the aircraft makes imperative at least a partial simulation of the inlet, exhaust, and external flows of the hydrogen-burning scramjet in conventional facilities for both nozzle formulation and aerodynamic-force data acquisition. Aerodynamic testing methods offer no contemporary approach for such vehicle design requirements. NASA-Langley has pursued an extensive scramjet/airframe integration R&D program for several years and has recently developed a promising technique for simulation of the scramjet exhaust flow for hypersonic aircraft. Current results of the research program to develop a scramjet flow simulation technique through the use of substitute gas blends are described in this paper.
Integrated numerical methods for hypersonic aircraft cooling systems analysis
Numerical methods have been developed for the analysis of hypersonic aircraft cooling systems. A general purpose finite difference thermal analysis code is used to determine areas which must be cooled. Complex cooling networks of series and parallel flow can be analyzed using a finite difference computer program. Both internal fluid flow and heat transfer are analyzed, because increased heat flow causes a decrease in the flow of the coolant. The steady state solution is a successive point iterative method. The transient analysis uses implicit forward-backward differencing. Several examples of the use of the program in studies of hypersonic aircraft and rockets are provided.
Some comparisons of turboramjet-powered hypersonic aircraft for cruise and boost missions.
Turboramjet-powered hypersonic aircraft evaluated for cruise and boost mission for orbital launching
Development of techniques and fabrication of a structural model for research on structures for hypersonic aircraft Final report, Jul. 1963 - Jan. 1966
Structural model to evaluate evacuated multiwall structure for hypersonic aircraft
Displacement surface calculations for a hypersonic aircraft
A method is presented to calculate the three-dimensional displacement surface about a hypersonic aircraft. This calculation requires a flow-field-solution to at least the thin-layer Navier-Stokes equations about the aircraft as input. An upwind, finite-volume code developed at NASA Langley Research Center was used to obtain the flow-field solution. The displacement surface is the three-dimensional counterpart to the two-dimensional displacement thickness. Flow-field solutions, along with the displacement surface calculations, are presented for a generic hypersonic aircraft at a Mach number of 24.5 and angle of attack of zero and one degree.
Body weight of advanced concept hypersonic aircraft
In this paper, preliminary qualitative and quantitative comparisons of the body weight of five hypersonic aircraft configurations are conducted. The five configurations are briefly described as follows: (1) a wing-and-body arrangement with a power-law, circular cross-section body and a delta wing; (2) an all-body vehicle with delta planform and elliptical cross-sections; (3) a wingless wave rider configuration; (4) a winged wave rider configuration; and (5) the spacewing concept, an oblique flying wing at low speed that yaws to 90 deg sweep and flies end-on at hypersonic speeds. The vehicles are defined by their external moldline geometries and by the interior arrangement of their fuel tanks and other components. Intersecting, circular-lobed tankage is used in vehicles with noncircular bodies. The nonusable volume of such concepts is calculated. The structural concept, structural materials, Thermal Protection System, and heat load are allowed to vary with vehicle longitudinal station. Relative strengths and weaknesses of the various hypersonic aircraft concepts in terms of body weight are summarized.