Flow Field Characterization of a Generic High-Speed Projectile Configuration

Author(s):

James DeSpirito, Royce Pokela, and Rajan Kumar

Abstract:

A combined experimental and numerical study was conducted on a generic projectile configuration with four high-sweep, low-aspect-ratio fins. The investigation expands on previous investigations of this configuration comparing high-fidelity computational fluid dynamic predictions of flow field structures to wind tunnel flow diagnostics including high-speed shadowgraphy, oil-flow visualization, and fast-response pressure-sensitive paint over the Mach number range of 0.7 to 4.0. The predicted vortex structures compared very well with those observed on the wind tunnel model. The predicted surface streak lines and pressure distribution also compared well with the wind tunnel results. Comparison of predicted and wind tunnel surface pressure distributions shows that the simulations tended to overpredict the surface pressure at most locations, primarily on the leeward surfaces of the fins. Turbulence model and rotation-correction modifications showed little effect on the surface pressure distribution except on the leeward surface of the lower fin, where using a rotation-correction modification improved the comparison with the wind tunnel result.