MHD Flow Control in Hypersonic Flight

Abstract

Experimental and theoretical studies of the MHD flow interaction around aerobodies [9,10,16-24,26,30,31] in a hypersonic ionized air stream are presented with comments on potential application for flow and flight control for advanced aerospace vehicles. The current work is a continuation of past efforts by the authors' directed at characterization of MHD flow field interaction over/around several different basic geometric configurations with mutually orthogonal magnetic field and velocity vectors. Experimental results from tests conducted with wedge models in a hypervelocity MHD accelerator driven wind tunnel facility with ionized air flow at an MHD interaction parameter, S u , of 0.1.are presented. Distinctive MHD influence on the flow structure around the wedge was confirmed in experiments. Experimental and numerical simulations with a wedge configuration that is representative of a hypersonic inlet are reported. The potential for use of MHD interaction to adjust the oblique shock system to achieve an on-cowl lip condition when flight operation is off-design was demonstrated. Supporting analysis work has achieved correlation with experimental observations and provides a means to project MHD interaction effects to full-scale hypersonic vehicles subject to real atmospheric flight.

Magnetohydrodynamic interaction in hypersonic air flow past a blunt body

“…We note that in the presence of MHD interaction the pressure is not the only characteristic determining the hydrodynamic drag of the body. The electromagnetic component of the drag associated with the interaction between the currents flowing in the plasma and the current generating the magnetic field becomes the determining characteristic [14,31]. We will now consider the effect of a magnetic field on the heat flow to the isothermal wall (Figs.…”

“…At first sight, the investigation of the MHD effect in such a plasma makes no sense in view of the negligibly low conductivity of the medium σ /(1 + β 2 ). As shown in studies [14][15][16]31], the intensity of the interaction may be almost ideal ( Qualitatively, this can be explained as follows (a more detailed analysis is given in [15]). Equation (1.6) can be rewritten for the Faraday and Hall components j F and j H of the electric current density…”

Numerical Simulation of High-Speed Non-equilibrium Flow with Applied Magnetic Field

“…Another two models, developed originally by Bush [10] and Raizer [11] are semi-empirical. The fifth model was taken from the paper by Bityurin and Bocharov [1] and is based on Chapman-Enskog theory of multicomponent gas mixture. This last model is the most advanced and utilizes the gas mixture data that is available from solving Navier-Stokes-Fourier equations.…”

“…affecting the gas flow incoming towards an aircraft with an applied magnetic field. The potential of MHD flow control system has been studied and demonstrated on numerous occasions [1][2] [3], however it's prospective effectiveness remains an open question. With the new challenges facing aerospace industry in the upcoming decade comes a need for more advanced numerical simulation tools.…”

Numerical Simulation of External MHD Generator on Board Reentry Vehicle

“…The utilization of plasmas for enhancing and controlling re-entry vehicle performances has been investigated in several papers [1]- [7]. There are two primary types of applications for this kind of hypersonic flow control concepts, namely, (1) the utilization of offbody plasmas for drag reduction and steering [1]- [4]; (2) the use of near surface plasmas combined with magnetic field for heat flux management [5][6][7]. For real sized vehicles, the energies required for these applications exceed the present capability of on-board auxiliary power units.…”