Numerical Simulation Over Conical Aerospike at Mach 6

Hypersonic missiles unite the speed of ballistic missiles together with the precision and maneuverability of cruise missiles. By cruising at hypersonic speed in the atmosphere, the blunt nose of missile encounters large surface heating and a great amount of drag. This drag force can be reduced by employing a structure known as aerospike. This spike is connected in front of the body that changes the flow field and influences aerodynamic drag at hypersonic speeds. In the current paper, the performance of conical aerospike for various L/D (Length to Diameter) ratios is examined by using computational fluid dynamics (CFD) approach. The CFD analysis is executed to analyze the effect of drag, lift, and pitching moment coefficient onto the blunt body with and without implementation of an aerospike. However, the addition of a conical aerospike in front of the blunt body has an advantage for the reduction in drag subjected to the angle of attack, but increase in pitching moment has to be taken into consideration.