Aerodynamic design of an innovative supersonic three-dimensional air-intake including a starting device has been carried out. The intake concept is based on the use of an external compression ramp in the form of a caret waverider. In a design flow regime, this ramp generates a plane oblique shock wave lying on its swept leading-edges and a subsequent two-dimensional isentropic compression wave. The intake starting is provided with a device special flaps of which in the throat are opened slightly in order to enlarge it and to form here both longitudinal and cross slots for air bleed and boundary-layer diversion. The same device can also serve for regulation of intake operating regimes depending on the flight velocity. The experimental model intake with a design Mach number MD = 2 has been developed and tested at flow Mach numbers 1·5, 1·75, and 2·0 in the T-313 supersonic wind tunnel based at ITAM. Flow patterns about the intake have been observed, and flow parameters characterising the intake performance have been measured. The experimental results obtained have confirmed the workability of the starting/regulating device; the data on the efficiency of the model intake have demonstrated its good characteristics in terms of the total pressure recovery.

Air-to-ground strike has become one of main forms of modern warfare, and the guided bomb release is an important and key part of the attack. The guided bomb release planning aims to accomplish a precise target hit in enemy’s region while guarantee the pilot’s safety. We propose a robust Monte Carlo method by taking error perturbations into consideration, comparing to the traditional sequential quadratic programming method under extreme conditions. At the same time using a distributed virtual physics environment we can obtain much more detailed realism relative to the conventional simulator running on a single machine. The experimental results verify that Monte Carlo methods can improve hit probability and weapon efficiency significantly. Furthermore, the 3D visualised environment plays a very important role in training pilots, so this simulator will decrease the cost and time requirements of physical experiment that are not always compatible with strict military task.

Gas-kinetic theory is also valid in the continuum regime: the Euler and Navier-Stokes equations can be obtained as projection of the Boltzmann equation on to the physical space (x,t). The numerical schemes derived from gas-kinetic theory are computationally more expensive than Navier-Stokes based ones, but offer advantages which have been attracting a growing level of attention: they can (i) accommodate discontinuities at cells interface, (ii) provide high-resolution fluxes, (iii) provide advantages in the simulation of turbulence, (iv) handle hypersonic and/or rarefied flows. This study extends the validation of gas-kinetic schemes investigating a few turbulent flow cases. At a slightly higher computational cost, gas-kinetic schemes provide results comparable to those obtained with well-validated Navier-Stokes schemes using the same turbulence model, grid and reconstruction order. In the case of shock-separated flows, the results obtained with the gas-kinetic scheme are even closer to experimental data. These findings are consistent with the idea that gas-kinetic theory is a physically more consistent framework for investigating the mechanics of fluids.

There are over 16,000 pieces of debris that are larger than 10cm in diameter being tracked which could cause a catastrophic destruction of a satellite if they were to collide. To reduce the likelihood of this happening, debris production is being reduced through debris mitigation techniques; however the debris already in space will need to be removed as well. To design an effective debris removal mission, the first logical step would be to gather as much detail as possible on debris that is known to exist within the orbital band of interest. This report presents a catalogue of debris, created entirely from open source data, for an orbital band within the 900-1,000km altitude range and 82-83° inclination, and offers a possible candidate for deorbit – the Cosmos 3M final-stage rocket body, of which there are 142, each with a mass of 1,435kg, length of 6·5m and diameter of 2·4m.

A computational study has been carried out to analyse the shock wave turbulent boundary layer interaction in a two-dimensional compression ramp flow for a free stream Mach number of 2·94. Ramp angles ranging from 8° to 24° are used to produce the full range of possible flow fields, including flows with minor separation, moderate separation, and significant amount of separation. The model has been analysed using 2D numerical simulations based on a commercially available Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) Code, Fluent, that employs k-ω Shear Stress Transport (SST) turbulence model. The computed data for surface pressure distribution indicated a good agreement with experiment. Numerical results obtained through the present series of computations indicate an increased extent of separated zone, and thus show increased upstream influence when compared to experiment. Total pressure loss has shown to increase downstream of separation location and increase when corner angle increases. Secondary separation has been observed for higher angles.

The present paper presents oil flow visualisations and pressure measurements over a hemisphere-cylinder body attached with a forward facing spike at Mach 6 and Reynolds number of 1·38 × 108 at 0° and 5° angle-of-attack. The oil flow pictures depict the separation region in the vicinity of the spike on the hemisphere-cylinder body. The oil flow visualisations will help to locate the reattachment shock wave on the hemisphere-cylinder body and also understand the flow field behavior on the blunt-nosed spike configuration. The pressure measurements over the hemisphere-cylinder body depend on the shape and the length of the spike. The pressure distributions over the blunt-nosed body show significant influence of the angle-of-attack. The maximum pressure coefficient on the hemisphere-cylinder body is a function of the spike length, shape of the aerodisk and angle-of-attack. The windward and leeward sides pressure variations show dependence of the geometrical parameters of the spike and shape of the spike. The hemisphere and the flat-faced aerodisk cause considerable reduction of pressure leading to decrease of aerodynamic drag compared to the conical spike.