Mitigation of Supersonic Aircraft Pod Aero-Optics

A technical plan is proposed for developing a supersonic pod-based application of virtual duct passive flow control for aero-optic mitigation. Virtual ducts have proven to be a highly effective tool for achieving aero-optic mitigation transonic flight up to Mach 0.8, and the proposed work seeks to leverage our extensive experience in designing and testing transonic virtual ducts to develop a unified fairing architecture that will yield effective aero-mitigation continuously across both the transonic and supersonic regimes. Supersonic virtual duct fairing (VDF) designs will be evaluated using CFD to optimize the VDF shape. We will also construct a subscale optical model to facilitate wind tunnel testing of our supersonic fairing design. Preliminary testing will be performed in university wind tunnel facilities, and an entry into a government wind tunnel facility is proposed for a thorough evaluation of VDF performance at a range of Mach numbers and viewing angles. CFD generated wavefront and pressure data will also be used as a basis for the design of a beam control system which will complement passive aero-mitigation with the VDF in order to achieve weapons-quality system optical performance for the supersonic flight regime.