Computational Investigation of Aero-Optic Aberrations in a Supersonic Interceptor with Lateral Jets

This paper presents a computational investigation of aero-optic aberrations that arise when multiple lateral jets are used to control a supersonic interceptor. Reynolds-averaged Navier–Stokes simulations are employed to examine the flow structure and evaluate the effects of various parameters, including altitudes ranging from 30–50 km, angles of attack (AOAs) from −15 to 25 deg, and four distinct jet configurations. the flow structure are analyzed by calculating the optical path difference (OPD) and normalizing it through scale analysis. When the jet flow does not interfere with the seeker’s field of view (FOV), the normalized OPD is predominantly governed by the bow shock and the conical expansion region in front of the vehicle head and exhibits similar profiles along the beam path for all altitudes. When the jet flow is introduced, the separation shock and bubble induced by jet interaction interfere with the seeker’s FOV at altitudes over 35 km and AOAs over 15 deg. Multijet cases at 35 km show that the separation bubble blocks a larger portion of the seeker’s FOV and increases the normalized OPD at higher AOA as the per-jet strength increases. For the most severe degradation case, unsteady delayed detached eddy simulation results predict a time-averaged normalized OPD that is about 20% larger than the steady-state counterpart.