An experimental study of the influence of spike in supersonic and transonic flows past a hemispheric body

Abstract

A strong shock wave during a supersonic flight of a blunt-nosed projectile increases the drag and aerodynamic heating considerably. A spike can be mounted on the nose of the projectile to reduce these effects. Apart from its very existence and its length, the spike's shape may also affect the aerodynamic characteristics of a blunt body. This paper presents the results of an experiment that analyzed the influence of the spike's shape on the aerodynamic forces and moments coefficients, and the location of the center of pressure, at supersonic and transonic flows past a model of a projectile with a hemispheric forebody. The experiment was carried out in a trisonic wind tunnel, for Mach numbers M=1.89 and M=1.03 and different angles of attack (0○ -10○ ). Visualization of the experiments was performed by the schlieren method in the case of supersonic flow. It enables qualitative analysis of the airflow around the tested model without and with four different spikes. The conclusions are by the obtained values of the aerodynamic coefficients. The experiments show that a spike and its shape affect only the performance of the tested projectile during its supersonic flight. Besides, a spike does not affect or even slightly impairs the aerodynamic performance of the projectile during its transonic flight. The obtained results are applicable in broader contexts, e.g. for the design of an aircraft for supersonic flights.

Keywords

• hemispheric projectile
• spike
• supersonic flow
• shock wave
• angle of attack
• aerodynamic coefficients
• transonic flow