Aerodynamic Analysis of the DLR Flight Experiment SHEFEX

Abstract

On Thursday, October 27th, 2005 the SHarp Edge Flight EXperiment SHEFEX was successfully launched at the Andøya Rocket Range in northern Norway. The project, being performed under responsibility of the German Aerospace Center (DLR) flew on top of a two-stage solid propellant sounding rocket. One purpose of the experiment was the investigation of possible new shapes for future launcher or re-entry vehicles applying a shape with facetted surfaces and sharp edges and to enable the time accurate investigation of the flow effects and their structural answer during the hypersonic flight from 90 km down to an altitude of 20 km. During the flight surface pressures, temperatures and heat fluxes were measured and stored. Additionally, the output of the flown inertial platform provides the complete flight mechanic description (flight angles, accelerations, velocity and positions) from lift-off until the deployment of the recovery system. The present paper discusses the actual status of the aerodynamic analysis.