Multiple osculating cones’ waverider design method for ruled shock surfaces

The traditional osculating cones’ (OCs’) waverider design method is widely used in hypersonic waverider airframe design. However, it becomes ineffective when the shock strength in each osculating plane varies and the azimuthal pressure gradients appear to be important. To solve this problem, a method called the multiple osculating cones’ (multiple-OCs’) waverider design method has been developed for ruled shock surfaces. The new method discretizes the ruled shock surface into elements that can be derived from multiple locally conical flows. Multiple locally conical flows indicate that neighboring osculating planes have different shock generators. This feature not only provides a practical way to represent the azimuthal pressure gradients but also extends the variety of waverider designs. Waverider test cases at Ma 6 and Ma 4.5 are performed by the osculating cones with variable shock angles’ (OC-VSAs’) method and the multiple-OCs’ method, respectively. It has been shown that the multiple-OCs’ method is applicable to more generalized shock surfaces. The comparison results reveal that the waverider derived by the multiple-OCs’ method has a better agreement with the computational fluid dynamics solution than the OC-VSAs’ method. Moreover, the new method ensures a more homogeneous inlet captured flowfield on the bottom side of the waverider, which is favorable for hypersonic airframe propulsion integration. © 2019 by the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics, Inc. All rights reserved.