Experimental investigation of super- and hypersonic jet interaction on missile configurations

An experimental investigation of jet interaction on configurations with lifting surfaces is presented. The experiments were carried out at supersonic Mach numbers of 2, 3.3, and 4.5 and at the hypersonic Mach number of 8. The test model was an ogive-cylinder body with interchangeable lifting surfaces that can be mounted at various locations along the body. several body-surface combinations were tested representing wing, tail, wing plus tail, and strake configurations. In some cases, the presence of the surfaces resulted in large force and/or moment amplification clue to the interaction of the jet-induced flowfield with the planar surfaces. Large amplification factors were obtained at zero angle of attack for some configurations even at the low Mach number of 2. In contrast, for similar tests using body of revolution without additional surfaces, only small force amplification, at best, could be obtained at small angles of attack. The force amplification was also shown to vary inversely with jet pressure. For low values of the jet stagnation pressure, amplification factors in excess of 2 were obtained. The interaction moments could be used to obtain an additional, aerodynamic, lifting force, which for some configurations can further increase the control force.