NON-MECHANICAL METHODS FOR MODIFYING LOCAL FLOWFIELDS ON HYPERSONIC VEHICLES ARE INVESTIGATED.

NON-MECHANICAL METHODS FOR MODIFYING LOCAL FLOWFIELDS ON HYPERSONIC VEHICLES ARE INVESTIGATED. THESE INCLUDE LEADING EDGE SHAPE MODIFICATIONS AND WALL TEMPERATURE CONTROL. THE LONG RANGE GOAL IS TO BE ABLE TO APPLY SIMILAR TECHNIQUES TO THE DESIGN OF COMPLETE OPTIMIZED AEROSPACE VEHICLES. THIS WILL BE DONE USING A COMBINED EXPLICITIMPLICIT TIME DEPENDENT ALGORITHM AND THE NON-LINEAR SIMPLEX OPTIMIZATION TECHNIQUE OF NELDER AND MEAD. PARAMETERS SUCH AS THE LEADING EDGE SHAPE AND WALL TEMPERATURE DISTRIBUTION WILL BE VARIED TO FIND THE PROFILES THAT MAXIMIZE THE DESIRED FUNCTIONAL (L/D). THIS WILL BE PERFORMED AT VARIOUS MACH NUMBERS AND FREESTREAM CONDITIONS TO OBSERVE HOW THE OPTIMUM LEADING EDGE SHAPES CHANGE, IF AT ALL, WITH MACH NUMBER AND REYNOLDS NUMBER.