Comparison between methods of generation of waveriders derived from conical flows

Abstract

Waveriders are supersonic or hypersonic lifting configurations which are generated from a known flowfield, preventing leakage from the high-pressure undersurface to the uppersurface, and allowing high lift-to-drag ratios. A method based on an Euler code is used to study waveriders generated from the flow field around axisymmetric bodies. In the case of a cone, the results are compared with those given by the Taylor–Maccoll system and inviscid hypersonic small-disturbance theory. In the present study conditions at Mach 5, the last method paradoxically works at high cone angles (greater than 10°) while the best lift-to-drag ratio are obtained with small angles.