Expanding the waverider design space using arbitrary generating flowfields

The present analysis deals with a quantum leap in the design space of hypersonic vehicles by carefully constructing aircraft from arbitrary flowfields. The design philosophy followed is basically that of finding a shape with a theoretically known and acceptable flowfield in the cruise condition. The ultimate goal is to obtain a complete aircraft configuration with integrated lift surface, stowage volume and propulsion unit, which will have satisfactory low speed, low supersonic speed and cruise Mach number performance.; In order to construct shapes, whose behavior in an inviscid fluid stream may be calculated exactly, stream surfaces chosen according to certain rules from assumed shock shapes are replaced by solid boundaries. A combination of such a stream surface, coupled with reliable engineering approximations for the calculations of local shear stress and pressure distribution, are built up piecemeal into complete aircraft configurations. To accomplish the task of designing waveriders a new numerical technique is developed. This numerical method uses the speed and simplicity of spatial marching techniques and the efficiency of the method of characteristics. It is shown that the design process is greatly simplified. Furthermore, this method is sufficiently flexible to allow for considerable freedom of choice in the disposition of lift, volume, and base and platform shapes. Included in this analysis are methods which indicate how the lifting efficiencies of the resulting vehicles may be investigated, and to some extent, optimized. Emphasis is placed on the influence of the shock wave shape and its relationship with the aerodynamic characteristics of the resulting waverider. A systematic approach, based on the Rosenbrock optimization routine, is developed in an effort to carved waveriders with optimal aerodynamic characteristics for given dimension and free stream conditions.; A new class of viscous optimized waveriders, possessing very high L/D ratios, are presented. Finally, since the present method provides a very rapid computational procedure, it is used in parametric studies to provide preliminary data on the off design and high altitude performance of waverider configurations.