Development and Validation of a Hypersonic Vehicle Design Tool Based On Waverider Design Technique

Methodologies for a tool capable of assisting design initiatives for practical waverider based hypersonic vehicles were developed and validated. The design space for vehicle surfaces was formed using an algorithm that coupled directional derivatives with the conservation laws to determine a flow field defined by a set of post-shock streamlines. The design space is used to construct an ideal waverider with a sharp leading edge. A blunting method was developed to modify the ideal shapes to a more practical geometry for real-world application. Empirical and analytical relations were then systematically applied to the resulting geometries to determine local pressure, skin-friction and heat flux. For the ideal portion of the geometry, flat plate relations for compressible flow were applied. For the blunted portion of the geometry modified Newtonian theory, Fay-Riddell theory and Modified Reynolds analogy were applied. The design and analysis methods were validated using analytical solutions as well as empirical and numerical data. The streamline solution for the flow field generation technique was compared with a Taylor-Maccoll solution and showed very good agreement. The relationship between the local Stanton number and skin friction coefficient with local Reynolds number along the ideal portion of the body showed good agreement with experimental data. In addition, an automated grid generation routine was formulated to construct a structured mesh around resulting geometries in preparation for Computational Fluid Dynamics analysis. The overall analysis of the waverider body using the tool was then compared to CFD studies. The CFD flow field showed very good agreement with the design space. However, the distribution of the surface properties was near CFD results but did not have great agreement.