Active control devices of spiked body for drag and heat flux reduction in supersonic/hypersonic flows: State-of-the-art review

Blunt-nose body structures are widely used in vehicles for better heat distribution due to supersonic/hypersonic flight. However, such a body shape contributes to an increase of shock wave drag owing to the strong bow shock wave generated in its front flow field. Various alternative techniques to modify the flowfield in front of the fore-bodies are theoretically and practically proved to have obvious effects on minimizing the excessive aeroheating and higher wave drag problems. A couple of active controlled configurations including spikes and their combinations with aerodisk and injection are extensively investigated utilizing experimental and numerical methods. The drag and heat reduction effects achieved with different structural parameters and freestream conditions are elaborated in detail. Actually, in the design of optimal weight structures and thermal protection systems for cruise and re-entry vehicles, there exist considerable problems in which the fluid-thermal-structural coupling problems are critical. Such as the thermal and mechanical behavior of mechanical spike coupled with the aerodynamic flow problem. The present paper is intended to systematically analyze the active flow field control technology of spikes and their combinations by surveying and summarizing the related studies in this field. Moreover, the coupling problem encountered in high speed conditions are also taken into consideration with a systematic explication. This paper concludes with outlooks and recommendations on the noteworthy issues that need further investigations in the future.