Numerical Investigation of Flow Modification Cooling Technique to Mitigate Aerodynamic Heating and Wave Drag in Hypersonic Flows of 60^0 Blunted Cones

Abstract

This study numerically investigated the effectiveness of an aero-spike in reducing aerodynamic wave drag in hypersonic flow. The research involved numerical simulations using ANSYS Fluent, utilizing the Reynolds-Averaged Navier-Stokes (RANS) equations as the governing equations along with the shear stress transport (SST) k-ω turbulence model. For this study, a 60-degree axisymmetric blunted body was used to attach the aero spike to the nose region. Four different spike tip shapes and lengths were investigated, covering various length-to-base diameter ratios (L/D) of 0.2, 0.5, 0.7, 1, and 1.5. The airflow was maintained at Mach 8.0 with an angle of attack of 0 degrees. The simulation results were compared with theoretical findings, and a favorable agreement was observed. The results highlighted that the performance of the thermal protection system, facilitated by the aero-spike, was notably influenced by the L/D ratio of the spike. The simulation outcomes included surface pressure distributions and temperature profiles for each spike configuration. It was evident that employing different spike types resulted in a significant reduction in pressure drag. The simulations demonstrated that the choice of spike length and shape, determined by the L/D ratio, played a vital role in enhancing the thermal protection system's performance. The results clearly indicated a substantial decrease in pressure drag when employing different types of spikes.