Preliminary Design of Vertical Takeoff Hopper Concept of Future Launchers Preparatory Program

Pezzella, Giuseppe; Marini, Marco; Roncioni, Pietro; Kauffmann, Jens; Tomatis, Carlo

doi:10.2514/1.39193

Cited by 21 publications

(12 citation statements)

References 11 publications

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“…This is especially true considering aeroheating estimates on wing, as it will be clarified hereinafter. For more details see [9] where the effects of both turbulent flow conditions and flow dissociation on VTO preliminary design are also shown.…”

Section: Vto Hopper: Synthesis Of Results For Clean Configurationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Preliminary Aerodynamic and Aerothermodynamic Assessment of the VTO Hopper Booster

Pezzella

2011

ISRN Mechanical Engineering

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Within the framework of the Future Launchers Preparatory Program, carried out by the European Space Agency, the VTO-Hopper reusable launcher is investigated. This concept is a winged sub orbital vehicle designed for vertical take-off with an expendable upper stage, able to deliver a payload up to 8 Mg in geostationary transfer orbit. After the staging, the reusable booster will re-enter the Earth's atmosphere, and then perform a downrange landing. In this paper the current design activities are described. The goal has been to define the preliminary booster aerodynamic and aerothermodynamic databases. Therefore, the aerothermal environment that the vehicle will encounter along its lifting reentry has been provided and analyzed. Different design approaches have been addressed. In fact, aerodynamic and aerothermodynamic analyses have been performed by using both engineering and numerical methods. For instance, a 3D Panel Methods code, typical for hypersonics, has been employed; the heat flux distributions have been evaluated by means of improved boundary layer methods. Increasing the order of complexity, a number of detailed 3D CFD analyses have been performed for different flight conditions along the descent trajectory. Results show that the aerodynamics and aerothermodynamics derived from engineering design approach are valid only for preliminary analysis purposes.

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Section: Vto Hopper: Synthesis Of Results For Clean Configurationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Preliminary Aerodynamic and Aerothermodynamic Assessment of the VTO Hopper Booster

Pezzella

2011

ISRN Mechanical Engineering

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“…A classical method to build the distributed coefficients from wind tunnel testing involves four types of tests: Global weighting with balance for the smooth configuration (without protrusions); Local pressure measurements for the smooth configuration; Global weighting with balance for the full configuration with protrusion; Local pressure measurements for the full configuration with protrusions. 6 Distributed coefficients along x axis for the smooth configuration is obtained with the two first tests. Local pressure measurements can be quite numerous but their number lead to a discretization far less than the one obtained through computation.…”

Section: Launcher Aerodynamic Analysismentioning

confidence: 99%

Numerical Analysis of the Flowfield Past a Next Generation Launcher

Viviani¹,

Pezzella²

2015

20th AIAA International Space Planes and Hypersonic Systems and Technologies Conference

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In this research effort launcher aerodynamic design activities at phase-A level are described. The goal is to address the preliminary aerodynamic data-base of a next generation launch vehicle as input for performances evaluations as well as launcher control and sizing. To this end, different design approaches are addressed as engineering methods and computational fluid dynamics with both Euler and Navier-Stokes approximations. Nomenclaturepitching moment (=Cmy) C n = yawing moment (=Cmz) D = aerodynamic drag, diameter E = lift-to-drag ratio (aerodynamic efficiency) H, h = altitude, height L = length, aerodynamic lift, vehicle length L/D = aerodynamic efficiency (E ff ) M = Mach number, pitching moment, mass N = normal force P = pressure Re = Reynolds number S = surface T = temperature u, v, w = velocity components V = velocity, volume X,Y,Z = coordinates Greek Symbols  = angle of attack 1 Full Professor, Chair of Aerodynamics, Industrial and Information Engineering Department, via Roma 29, AIAA senior member. antonio.viviani@unina2.it. 2 Ph. D. Researcher, Aerothermodynamics Section, Analysis and extrapolation to flight Lab., Head. AIAA Member. g.pezzella@cira.it. Downloaded by NANYANG TECHNICAL UNIVERSITY on October 1, 2015 | http://arc.aiaa.org |

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“…A total of four concepts were investigated, namely, the horizontal take-off (HTO) Hopper, the vertical take-off (VTO) Hopper, the reusable first stage, and the liquid fly-back booster [20]. Each of these concepts consisted of a reusable winged booster, able to carry an expendable upper stage, to deliver a payload in geostationary transfer orbit [21]. The HTO Hopper featured a relatively conventional wing-body configuration, investigated yet within the ASTRA program [17].…”

Section: Past Developmentsmentioning

confidence: 99%