The Launch Dynamics of Supersonic Projectiles

TL;DR

This study uses computational methods to analyze the complex aerodynamics of supersonic projectiles interacting with shock waves, revealing configuration-dependent flow structures and negligible viscosity effects on overall aerodynamics.

Contribution

It provides a detailed computational analysis of projectile-shock interactions, comparing cylindrical and conical shapes, and highlights the effects of flow structures and viscosity.

Findings

Projectile configuration affects unsteady flow structures.

Drag coefficient varies with projectile shape.

Viscosity has negligible impact on overall aerodynamics.

Abstract

The aerodynamics of a projectile launched from barrels of various devices is quite complicated due to its interactions with the unsteady flow field around it. A computational study using moving grid method is performed here to analyze the effect of the projectile-shock wave interaction. Cylindrical and conical projectiles have been employed to study such interactions and the fluid dynamics of such flow fields. It is found that the overall effect of projectile overtaking a blast wave on the unsteady aerodynamic characteristics of the projectile is hardly affected by the projectile configurations. However, it is noticed that the projectile configurations do affect the unsteady flow structures and hence the drag coefficient for the conical projectile shows considerable variation from that of the cylindrical projectile. The projectile aerodynamic characteristics, when it interacts with the secondary shock wave, are analyzed in detail. It is also observed that the change in the characteristics of the secondary shock wave during the interaction is different for different projectile configurations. Both inviscid and viscous simulations were done to study the projectile aerodynamics. It is found that the effect of the viscosity on the projectile aerodynamics is negligible but the viscosity does affect the unsteady flow structures around the projectile.