Re-entry vehicle performance analysis under the control of lateral jet

Abstract

Lateral jets are used to control the missiles and re-entry vehicles at high altitudes. The objective of the research paper is to investigate the effect of lateral jet interaction with the external flow on a blunted nose cone re-entry vehicle configuration and its flight speed. Structured mesh is used for the simulations, and the computational analysis is carried out by Ansys Fluent solver. The simulation results are validated, and the same methodology used for the parametric analysis. Simulations have been carried out at an external flow Mach number 6, 8.1, 12 and 16 at five degree angle-of-attack for jet-off and jet-on conditions. At 8.1 Mach number, the normal force coefficient is decreased by 45.6% due to jet interaction. The lateral jet interaction effectively reduces the nose down pitching moment. At 8.1 Mach number, the pitching moment coefficient was reduced by 48% with the jet-on condition compared to the jet-off condition.