Effect of upper surface shape on waverider performances

Abstract

Waveriders are of high lift-to-drag (L/D) ratio in hypersonic states; however, low volume of loading limits its application in practical engineering significantly. Raising the upper surface is a method to increase the volume space for waveriders, and this article studies the effect of the upper surface shape on the aerodynamic performances based on a single swept waverider configuration. Cubic polynomials were employed to construct the upper surface to replace the freestream-traced surface, and 2 parameters, the trailing edge thickness and inclination angle of head, were extracted as design variables. Analyzing the flow field using computational fluid dynamics techniques, raising the upper surface only had effect on the aerodynamic performance from the upper surface, but nearly no effect on the lower surface, and thus the design of upper and lower surfaces can be decoupled. As the trailing edge thickness and inclination angle of head increase, the volume of waveriders grows rapidly, while the loss in L/D ratio is limited. Compared with expanding the lower surface, raising the upper surface yielded better aerodynamic performances. The results indicate that raising the upper surface is a feasible and efficient approach to increase the loading volume of the waverider and hence promote its application in engineering.