A Comprehensive Study of Forebody Vortex Interactions with Control Surfaces of Generic Axisymmetric Configurations
Abstract
Flight vehicles are expected to perform maneuvers to achieve tactical advantages and require control surfaces to be effective over the entire flight regime. At high angles of incidence, the control surfaces are in the wake of the body and are relatively less effective in maneuvering the vehicle. A slender body of revolution also experiences large side forces and yaw moments due to flow asymmetry created by forebody vortices at high incidence. Therefore, it is important to enhance the effectiveness of these control surfaces using an efficient and adaptive flow control technique. The proposed study is aimed to improve our understanding of vortex dominated flows so that we can manipulate the forebody vortices and their interactions with control surfaces to enhance fin effectiveness and improve maneuverability at high angles of incidence. Intellectual Merit: The research methodology will involve a systematic experimental and computational investigation to examine the phenomenon of vortex interactions with control surfaces. The investigation will involve examining the effect of forebody vortices on the lateral aerodynamic characteristics in the presence of aft body with fins over a range of Mach and Reynolds numbers. Measurements will include forces and moments using a six-component strain gage internal balance, time-resolved particle image velocimetry and unsteady pressure distributions using fast-response pressure sensors and pressure sensitive paints. The tightly integrated numerical simulations will help develop a physics based model to understand the vortex interaction flow phenomenon and guide the experimental parametric space. Both experiments and simulations will help design an efficient fluidic perturbation technique to control the vortices to enhance fin effectiveness at high angles of incidence. The outcome of this research will be an improved understanding of the flow physics of forebody vortex asymmetry, its interactions with control surfaces, and the development of an efficient and robust control of axisymmetric slender bodies at high incidence. Broader Impacts: The proposed work will result in a better understanding of vortex dominated flows encountered in many disciplines. This integrated study will significantly leverage the established expertise of the investigators, especially in the areas of experimental aerodynamics, high-fidelity numerical simulations, and flow control, while taking advantage of the existing facilities and computational resources at FAMU-FSU College of Engineering at the Florida A&M University. Consequently, the students engaged in this research and its outcomes will come from a unique, culturally diverse population. This project will benefit the goal of producing African-American graduate degrees in engineering and supporting future faculty. The results will be broadly disseminated through presentations at professional meetings, publication in journals, and through the investigatorsÕ very active collaborations with scientists at defense research laboratories, especially those within the Army Research Laboratory.
Document Details
- Document Type
- DoD Grant Award
- Publication Date
- Feb 14, 2019
- Source ID
- W911NF1810462
Entities
People
- Kumar Rajan
Organizations
- Army Contracting Command
- Florida A&M University
- Office of the Secretary of Defense