Exploring Aerodynamic Characteristics and Control Methods of Hypersonic Flight Vehicle

The hypersonic flight vehicle is powered by ram jet engine whose work has high requirements for its attitude and flight conditions. For example, the control of its angle of attack and sideslip angle must be precise to a certain degree; its flight Mach number and dynamic pressure must be big enough. This paper explores the aerodynamic characteristics such as the variations of drag coefficient, lift coefficient and pitch- moment coefficient with that of angle of attack at different Mach numbers. It contrasts two flight control methods in terms of their merits and drawbacks and then analyzes the feasibility of using the normal overload control pilot. It concludes preliminarily that: 1) the lift coefficient of the hypersonic flight vehicle and its drag coefficient increase with increasing angle of attack, whereas its longitudinal moment coefficient decreases with increasing angle of attack; when Mach numbers are quite big, its aerodynamic force and moment are very linear with the changes in angle of attack; 2) the normal overload control pilot can achieve the control of the angle of attack of a flight vehicle and is sensitive to wind field changes, and its accelerometer is quite accurate. Therefore, the control method enjoys a better engineering feasibility.