Investigating the Aerodynamic Behavior of Rockets with Varying Nose Cone Geometries in Subsonic Flight

Rocket technology has a very important place for many engineering fields such as space research, communication and military applications. It is very important for the success of the mission that rockets achieve their goals against all factors while performing their tasks in these fields. Therefore, all internal and external disturbing factors should be taken into consideration in rocket design. This study focuses on the performance of the nose geometry, which is one of the most important sub-parts affecting rocket performance, under different conditions. The geometry of the nose cone of the rocket is of vital importance for optimizing performance, safety and mission success. Its geometry is the most important parameter for determining aerodynamic efficiency. The design of the nose cone also affects stability and control, allowing the rocket to maintain its orientation. This study was conducted to examine the effect of nose cone geometry on aerodynamic performance at subsonic speeds. Using Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD), analyses were carried out to evaluate the drag force, pressure, and velocity distributions of rockets with different nose designs. According to the results, the drag force was found to be 40.141N for the conical nose, 38.136N for the elliptical nose, and 37.092N for the tangent ogive nose. These values indicate that nose cone geometry has a significant effect on improving aerodynamic efficiency in certain applications.