Effect of Engine Integration on the Aerodynamic Characteristics of a Spaceplane

A series of computations are conducted to clarify the aerodynamic effect of the engine integration to the airframe configuration of a spaceplane. Thin-layer Navier-Stokes are used along with the FSA (Fortified Solution Algorithm) zonal method for the discretization of the flow field. Three angles of attack are chosen for the simulations. Comparisons of the Cp distributions and the lift coefficients with the experiment indicate the reliability of the present simulations. Comparison of the aerodynamic characteristics of the Spaceplane with and without the engine part shows that the flow underneath the wing is very much influenced by the engine integration and it alters the vortical flow structure over the upper surface of the strake-delta wing. However, it is also shown that at higher angles of attack, the induced flows do not alter the flow and the leading-edge separation vortex is not much influenced by the existence of the diverter.