Tamás Bykerk , Giuseppe Pezzella , Antonio Viviani and Dries Verstraete
DOI Number XXX-YYY-ZZZ
Conference Number HiSST 2018-897
Re-usable, unmanned re-entry vehicles are an efficient way to experimentally validate next generation re-entry technologies. During the descent phase, the aircraft will encounter free-stream velocities ranging from hypersonic to low subsonic, which requires a careful choice of aeroshape. For the mission to be successful, the vehicle will need to be stable during both low and high-speed phases of flight. In this framework, the paper focused attention on both experimental and numerical flowfield investigations carried out on an innovative spatuled-body vehicle aeroshape. Wind tunnel results from a low speed test campaign performed in order to validate subsonic CFD studies are provided and discussed in the paper. Results of Mach 7 CFD simulations are also shown to understand the high-speed behavior of the aircraft. Findings of this study show that the vehicle requires a MRC location at 45% of its length for static stability at both high and low speed. Control deflection studies showed that the first estimate of elevon sizing is sufficient and the aircraft can easily be trimmed at both high and low speed.