Thermo-Fluid Analysis of Supersonic Flow Over Ballistic Shaped Bodies with multiple aero-disk spike configurations

Sundarraj, V and Sundarraj, K and Kulkarni, PS (2021) Thermo-Fluid Analysis of Supersonic Flow Over Ballistic Shaped Bodies with multiple aero-disk spike configurations. In: Acta Astronautica, 180 . pp. 292-304.

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Abstract

The aerodynamics of re-entry vehicles has always been in the forefront among space research. With the increasing interests in space exploration, it is important to understand the aerodynamics of spacecrafts and identify an optimum design to overcome the forces due to the earth's atmosphere. In this paper, Computational Fluid Dynamic (CFD) analysis has been carried out on ballistic bodies with a single, double and triple aero-disk spikes. The study also involves the presence and absence of a blunt tip to aid the analysis of flow behaviour on these bodies under two scenarios namely zero-degree angle of attack and at supersonic speed (Mach 2.0). The aerodynamic drag and surface heat transfer effects of these spikes on three different blunt body configurations has been studied. The shape of the blunt bodies vary based on the nose bluntness factor. The flow patterns of these configurations were three-dimensionally visualized via Schlieren-like, Mach and Pressure contours. It was observed that the usage of aero-disk spike reduced the aerodynamic drag by 45�60 when compared to the bodies without spikes. The configuration labelled 3221 showed the maximum effect with an average drag reduction of more than 55. There was a remarkable drop in the stagnation point value of surface heat flux with the addition of all five spike system. An efficient performance of localized peak heat fluxes was also noticed upon the addition of double and triple spike systems. In conclusion, it has been observed that the usage of double and triple spikes on the 3221 blunt body has significantly improved its aerodynamic drag and its surface heat flux. © 2020 IAA

Item Type:	Journal Article
Publication:	Acta Astronautica
Publisher:	Elsevier Ltd
Additional Information:	The copyright of this article belongs to Elsevier Ltd
Keywords:	Aerodynamic configurations; Aerodynamic drag; Angle of attack; Automobile bodies; Ballistics; Earth atmosphere; Heat flux; Heat transfer; Reentry; Space research; Supersonic aircraft, Ballistic bodies; Pressure contours; Re-entry vehicles; Space explorations; Stagnation points; Supersonic speed; Surface heat fluxes; Surface heat transfer, Computational fluid dynamics
Department/Centre:	Division of Mechanical Sciences > Aerospace Engineering(Formerly Aeronautical Engineering)
Date Deposited:	19 Jan 2021 09:18
Last Modified:	19 Jan 2021 09:18
URI:	http://eprints.iisc.ac.in/id/eprint/67673

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