Supersonic scattering of a wing-induced incident shock by a slender body of revolution

Abstract

The lift force acting on a slender body of revolution that separates from a thin wing in supersonic flow is analysed using Prandtl–Glauert linearized theory, scattering theory and asymptotic methods. It is shown that this lift is associated with multi-scattering of the wing-induced shock wave by the body surface. The local and global lift coefficients are obtained in simple analytical forms. It is shown that the total lift is mainly induced by the first scattering. Contributions from second, third and higher scatterings are zero in the leading-order approximation. This greatly simplifies calculations of the lift force. The theoretical solution for the flow field is compared with numerical solutions of three-dimensional Euler equations and experimental data at free-stream Mach number 2. There is agreement between the theory and the computations for a wide range of shock-wave strength, demonstrating high elasticity of the leading-order asymptotic approximation. Theoretical and experimental distributions of the cross-sectional normal force coefficient agree satisfactorily, showing robustness of the analytical solution. This solution can be applied to the moderate supersonic (Mach numbers from 1.2 to 3) multi-body interaction problem for crosschecking with other computational or engineering methods.