Design And Performance Calculation Of Waverider Forebody

For hypersonic airbreathing vehicle, the propulsion system must be closely integrated to the airframe. The forebody acts as an efficient compression system prior to the inlet. The aerodynamic forces on the forebody greatly influence the performance of the vehicle. The forebody design is a key issue for hypersonic airbreathing vehicle.A waverider is a configuration designed such that the bow shock generated by the shape is perfectly attached along the leading edge at the design condition. The waverider design method leads to several potential advantages over conventional non-waverider hypersonic concepts. The attached leading-edge shock wave confines the high-pressure region to the low surface. In addition the flow field below the waveriders low surface is uniform. These advantages have led to interest in using waverider shapes for the forebody geometries of hypersonic airbreathing engine-integrated airframes. Waverider is a potential configuration as the forebody of hypersonic airbreathing vehicle.In this thesis, two classes of waverider, one for cone-derived waverider and the other for osculating cone waverider, are presented. The FORTRAN codes have been written to design and predict the on-design performance of the two types of configuration separately. The stream surfaces, which define the bottom surface of waverider forebody, are traced from the exit profile.To validate the forebody design code and verify its predicted performance, the flow field of waverider forebody were numerical simulation were performed. Calculations are also made on the waverider forebody at angles of attack from -6 to +6 degrees at the design Mach number 6 and at the off-design Mach numbers of 4, 5 at zero degree angle of attack along the trajectory. The effects of flight Mach numbers and angles of attack are analyzed.The CFD solution confirms the design theory of waverider. Good agreement was found between the calculated performance by the design code and results from numerical simulation. From these results, it can be stated that the design code can be used with confidence for preliminary design of hypersonic forebody. At the design condition, the shock are almost attached to the leading edge. The result also indicates that there is no significant performance degradation at off-design Mach numbers. At angles of attack above zero, the flow below the waveriders low surface is still uniform. The maximum lift-to-drag ratio occurs at an angle of attack +2 degrees.