Effect of Fuselage Cross Section on Aerodynamic Characteristics of Reusable Launch Vehicles

Abstract

An experimental study on examining aerodynamic characteristics of fuselage cross sections for RLVs (Reusable Launch Vehicles) was conducted at Mach number 0.3, 0.9 and 4.0 in the wind tunnel of ISAS (Institute of Space and Astronautical Science), JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency). Three bodies, having the same projected area and length, with and without a set of fins, were tested. Their cross sections are a circle, a square and a triangle with rounded corners. The results showed that the fuselage cross sections had large effects on aerodynamic characteristics in subsonic and transonic flow. The lift coefficient of the model having the triangular cross section with a set of the fins was larger than that of the others in high angles of attack region due to contributions of the separation vortices generated from the fuselage expanding to the wing surface.