Aerodynamic Investigation of a Supersonic Bending Body Projectile with Shape Optimization

Abstract

A Particle Swarm Optimization algorithm was implemented along with an Euler (inviscid) computational fluid dynamics code to determine both body bending angles and locations that separately optimized two parameters: lift-to-drag ratio at the trim angle of attack and pitching moment coefficient at 0 angle of attack. The Air Force Finner missile at a Mach number of 2 was used as the baseline configuration. As a constraint, only configurations that could reach a trimmed condition over the angle of attack range (-10 degt<alpha<10 deg) were considered valid. The performance of the Euler code was evaluated by modeling the baseline Air Force Finner and comparing with archival experimental data as well as previous high-fidelity, viscous simulations. The Euler code produced comparable solutions to the viscous solutions for multiple bending body configurations with superior efficiency. Implementation of the shape optimization resulted in convergence to a different configuration, but with similar lift-to-drag ratios and trim angles of attack, for each of the optimized parameters. A bentness angle was defined that had a similar value for both optimal configurations. The optimal bending body configurations produced significantly higher pitching moment increments and improved maneuverability potential over a generic canard-controlled configuration with a 10 canard deflection. A 34 increase in lift-to-drag ratio was achieved for the bending body configurations. Overall, the optimization routine proved to be an efficient tool for producing highly maneuverable aerodynamic designs.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Sep 19, 2019
Accession Number
AD1080931

Entities

People

  • Jim Despirito
  • Joseph D. Vasile
  • Justin L. Paul
  • Sidra I. Silton

Organizations

  • United States Army Research Laboratory

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Weapons Technologies

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Aerodynamic Characteristics
  • Air Force
  • Algorithms
  • Artificial Intelligence
  • Boundary Layer
  • Canard Configurations
  • Computational Fluid Dynamics
  • Experimental Data
  • Flow
  • Fluid Dynamics
  • Mach Number
  • Military Research
  • Particle Swarm Optimization
  • Trailing Vortices
  • Trim Angle
  • Wind Tunnel Tests
  • Wind Tunnels

Fields of Study

  • Physics

Readers

  • Aerodynamics/Aeronautics.
  • Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD)
  • Operations Research

Technology Areas

  • Hypersonics