Computational Investigation of Roll Damping for Missile Configurations

Results from computational fluid dynamics (CFD) predictions of roll damping on three elementary missile configurations are presented in this work. RavenCFD, a threedimensional unstructured-grid Navier-Stokes solver, is used in conjunction with a rigid body motion (RBM) capability and an embedded six-degree-of-freedom (6-DOF) solver to simulate both prescribed rolls and free-to-roll configurations. Several different methodologies are applied to both prescribed-roll and free-to-roll CFD calculations to obtain estimates of roll damping coefficient across a broad range of Mach numbers. In general, the computational results agree well with experimental roll-damping measurements across the range of Mach numbers and angles of attack considered.