Aerodynamic Characterisation of Ramjet Missile through Combined External-internal Computational Fluid Dynamics Simulation

Abstract

Combined external-internal flow simulation is required for the estimation of aerodynamic forces and moments of high speed air-breathing vehicle design. A wingless, X-tail configuration with asymmetrically placed rectangular air intake is numerically explored for which experimental data is available for different angles of attack. The asymmetrically placed air intakes and protrusions make the flow field highly three-dimensional and existing empirical relations are inadequate for preliminary design. Three dimensional Navier Stokes equations along with SST-kω turbulence model were solved with a commercial CFD solver to analyse the combined external and internal flow field of the configuration at different angles of attack. Estimated aerodynamic coefficients match well with experimental data and estimated drag coefficient are within 8.5 per cent of experimental data. Intake performance parameters were also evaluated for different angles of attack.Keyword: Ramjet, computational fluid dynamics, CFD, drag coefficient, pressure recovery, mass capture ratio

Flow Analyses of Integrated Liquid Fuel RAMJET Propulsion System

“…Also, reacting flow simulations for a liquid fuel ramjet combustor are carried out and are compared with experimental results. 5 Flow simulations are performed for entire missile configuration including external and internal flows and the performance predictions were carried out [6][7][8] . Even though the simulations are carried out for entire missile configuration, no literature evidence of the CFD simulation for entire propulsion system, modeling combustion reactions, seems to be available.…”