Aerodynamic Characteristics of Frustum-Shaped Elastic Membrane Aeroshells in Supersonic Flow

摘要

The membrane behavior and aerodynamic characteristics of a capsule model with an elastic membrane aeroshell were investi-gated by the supersonic wind-tunnel experiments. The results show that the deformation of a membrane aeroshell is governed mainly by the nondimensional aeroelasticity parameter C_(AE) (which is defined as the ratio of the aerodynamic force to the elastic force) in the supersonic flow regime when the Mach number is given. Also a capsule-type vehicle with a membrane aeroshell in combination with a rigid outer frame has some unique characteristics that a rigid vehicle does not have. When C_(AE) increases, the shape of the averaged slope angle of the frustum becomes smaller due to elastic deformation of the membrane, and the drag coefficient decreases. The drag coefficients of the membrane aeroshell model are less sensitive to the angle of attack than the rigid aeroshell model because the membrane aeroshell tends to incline its outer frame to be normal to the freestream direction.