Computational investigation of the DEMON unmanned air vehicle thrust vectoring system

Abstract

A computational investigation of the interaction of the vectored primary jet from the main engine with the subsonic flow around a tailless unmanned air vehicle (UAV) configuration, with a cropped diamond wing planform, has been carried out. An initial study has been completed using Reynolds-averaged Navier—Stokes methods in conjunction with the shear-stress transport k—ω model. Various sets of simulations were performed on the basis of quantifying the thrust vectoring (TV) jet entrainment effects by means of aerodynamic forces and moments when key factors are combined, such as angles of thrust velocity deflection at different jet Mach number and angles of attack. It was found that reaction forces induced by the modified pressure on the integrated boundary of the body results in an enhancement of the TV effectiveness in producing the forces and moments required for the flight vehicle trim and manoeuvring. Those reaction forces were found to be independent of the angle of attack.