UNSTEADY AERODYNAMICS OF A HYPERSONIC VEHICLE DURING A SEPARATION PHASE

The unsteady flowfield of a realistic two-stage hypersonic vehicle during the separation process is investigated. In particular, the aerodynamic characteristics of the orbital stage in the first phase of the separation are addressed. The numerical simulations of these first investigations are based on a finitevolume method solving the three-dimensional unsteady Euler equations. The results focus on the flow fields and the pressure distributions as well as on the aerodynamic coefficients. The latter provides an essential mean for the stability and control evaluations. The analysis shows that unsteadiness cannot be neglected. List of Symbols c e Q F,G,H u,v,w