Aerodisk effects on drag reduction for hypersonic blunt body with an ellipsoid nose

The paper systematically investigates the drag reduction of aerodisk fixed on the non-axisymmetric blunt body with an ellipsoid nose, different from conventional axisymmetric blunt body. The effects of spike length, aerodisk size and shape on drag reduction performance are numerically examined. Based on the analysis, a well-designed aerodisk configuration is determined and a maximum drag reduction of 41.9% is obtained for the whole blunt body. Meanwhile, some meaningful phenomena are discussed: (i) As the spike length increases, the drag of forebody and whole blunt body decreases first, then increases, and then decreases again. (ii) The total drag of the blunt body decreases first and then increases with the increase of aerodisk size. (iii) An elliptic disk with aspect ratio approaching that of the ellipsoid nose is superior to a round disk with the same size. This numerical study is expected to illustrate the significance of aerodisk to drag reduction over the non-axisymmetric blunt body and provide a reference for the design of aerodisk in hypersonic field.