A numerical study on the single pulsed energy addition based unsteady wave drag reduction at varied hypersonic flow regimes

In this study, unsteady wave drag reduction in hypersonic flowfield using pulsed energy addition is numerically investigated. A single energy pulse is considered to analyze the time-averaged drag reduction/pulse. The blast wave creation, translation and its interaction with shock layer are studied. As the wave drag depends only on the inviscid aspects of the flowfield, Euler part of a well-established compressible flow Navier-Stokes solver USHAS (Unstructured Solver for Hypersonic Aerothermodynamics) is employed for the present study. To explore the feasibility of pulsed energy addition in reducing the wave drag at different flight conditions, flight Mach numbers of 5.75, 6.9 and 8.0 are chosen for the study. An 60 degrees apex angle blunt cone model is considered to be placed in such hypersonic streams, and steady-state drag and unsteady drag reductions are computed. The simulation results indicate that drag of the blunt-body can be reduced below the steady-state drag for a significant period of energy bubble-shock layer interaction, and the corresponding propulsive energy savings can be up to 9%. For energy pulse of magnitude 100mJ deposited to a spherical region of 2 mm radius, located 50 mm upstream of the blunt-body offered a maximum percentage of wave drag reduction in the case of Mach 8.0 flowfield. Two different flow features are found to be responsible for the drag reduction, one is the low-density core of the blast wave and the second one is the baroclinic vortex created due to the plasma energy bubble-shock layer interaction. For the same freestream stagnation conditions, these two flow features are noted to be very predominant in the case of high Mach number flow in comparison to Mach 5.75 and 6.9 cases. However, the ratio of energy saved to the energy consumed is noted as a maximum for the lower Mach number case.