Wave Drag Analysis in Cascade Fins in Supersonic Regime.

The endeavor to improve the aerodynamic efficiency of supersonic flying bodies has been constant and significant ever since. Notably it has a significant contribution towards the growth of Aerospace industry. The rigorous experiments carried out on aerodynamic efficiency have led to the optimization of flying body design involving structural, aerodynamic or chemical performance parameters. Aerodynamic efficiency is the basis of energy-efficient flying model, and low drag is the basis of aerodynamic efficiency. The relative impact of drag depends upon the flight regime and specific design requirements. Hence, in the search of improving the aerodynamic efficiency and reducing the undesirable flight properties, specifically in supersonic regime, a channelised study has been carried out, as also being carried out many researchers across the world through different processes. Since shock waves create a considerable amount of drag, which can result in extreme drag on the supersonic body, it forms a significant area of study while aiming at improving the aerodynamic efficiency of a supersonic flying object. Hence, this paper deals with the reduction of wave drag by adopting cascade fin, which is a kind of fin that is still evolving in the aerospace environment. A cascade is a control surface which is composed of an external frame supporting an internal cascade of planar surfaces having small chord length. Various properties of cascade fin impact the aerodynamic efficiency individually and also in consonance with other properties. However specific properties of angle of attack and leading edge shape of cascade fin have been considered in this paper to evaluate their effect in reducing the wave drag of a supersonic flying object. This paper deals with these properties of cascade fin individually in isolation, in order to study and understand their impact in detail. The study on wave drag reduction by varying the angle of attack of cascade fins, in supersonic flow regime, has been carried out by adopting computational fluid dynamics simulation, performed for a Mach number of 2 and angle of attack of 0° and 5°. The study on wave drag reduction by varying the leading edges of cascade fins, in supersonic flow regime, has been carried out by adopting computational fluid dynamics simulation, performed for a Mach number of 2 and angle of attack of 0°. The study of varied leading edges considered have displayed significant variation of wave drag, but in practical application, a particular leading edge needs to be chosen as part of the larger scheme of aerodynamic designing process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]