Numerical analysis of thermal protection and drag redunction with use of spike

The flying vehicle will encounter severe aerodynamic heating and large drag due to shock wave when it is in hypersonic flight, spikes ahead of the blunt noses of bodies of revolution have been considered as a means of the total heat flux and aerodynamic drag reduction, while a conical shock wave induced by the spike instead of the former bow shock wave of the blunt body. In this paper, the influences of nose conFiguration such as conical, hemispherical and flat-headed spike and l/D ratio (where l is the spike length and D is cylinder diameter) on the reduction of aerodynamic drag and the heating are investigated. Studies have shown that, the thermal protective effect when use conical spike is remarkable, while the aerodynamic drag reduction is prominence when use flat-headed spike, and both more effective with increased l/D ratio when it is varying around 2.