Analysis of the Aerodynamic Characteristics of Missile Configurations Using a Semi-Empirical Method

An efficient estimation of the aerodynamic characteristics for missile configurations is essential in the preliminary stage of a missile design. In this study, a Missile DATCOM family code based on the semi-empirical method was utilized for this purpose. In order to check the accuracy and reliability of the code several test cases have been considered: subsonic flow with high angles of attack and supersonic flow with moderate angles of attack. It turned out that the code in general provides prediction in qualitative agreement with the experimental data and results by other works. Finally, the code was applied to a more complicated missile configuration with canard and freely spinning tail fins.