Experimental Study on Aerodynamic Characteristics Control of a Spiked Body

Experimental studies on telescopic aerospikes for aerodynamic control are reported in this paper. Parametric study on the aerodynamic characteristics of the aerospike has performed including the effect of spike length L, base diameter of tip cone D, spike translating speed and direction. The Axial force coefficient Ca of the aerospike suddenly increases at L/D=3.0 due to flow mode transition from the separation to the reattachment. Reattachment/separation flow mode transition phenomenon can be applicable to a newly invented aerodynamic control device, which is called air-breathing aerospike. In this paper, verification test results of this air-breathing aerospike are also reported. A small solenoid valve in the body cylinder successfully controls reattachment/separation flow mode transition at the angle of attacks from 0 to 12 degree. The spiked bodies’ Ca varies according to the mode transition. As a result, we can control the aerodynamic property of the spiked body by opening/closing the valves periodically.