Aerodynamic Measurements of an Air-Breathing Hypersonic Vehicle at Mach 3.5 to 8

Abstract

Six-degree-of-freedom measurements have been performed with an aerodynamic model of a small scale hypersonic air-breathing vehicle. The model was tested in two test campaigns in two different wind tunnels, with Mach numbers ranging from the supersonic to the hypersonic range (Mach 3.5 to Mach 8). The tests included variations of the angle of attack between α = -3° and α = 3°, and of the sideslip angle between β = 0° and β = 2°. Further on, various control surface deflections have been set for canards, rudders and ailerons. The experiments provided insight into the aerodynamic properties and gave valuable information for the design of the vehicle. Further on they provided validation data for planned nose-to-tail computations of the vehicle.