A spike attached to a hemispherical body drastically changes its flowfield and influences aerodynamic drag in a hypersonic flow. It is, therefore, a potential candidate for drag reduction of a future high-speed vehicle. The effect of the spike length, shape, spike nose configuration and angle-of-attack on the reduction of the drag is experimentally studied with use of hypersonic wind-tunnel at Mach 6. The effects of geometrical parameters of the spike and angle-of-attack on the aerodynamic coefficient are analysed using schlieren picture and measuring aerodynamic forces. These experiments show that the aerodisk is superior to the aerospike. The aerodisk of appropriate length, diameter and nose configuration may have the capability for the drag reduction. The inclusion of an aero disk at the leading edge of the spike has an advantage for the drag reduction mechanism if it is at an angle-of-attack, however consideration to be given for increased moment resulting from the spike is required.

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A forward spike attached to a blunt body significantly alters its flow field characteristics and influences aerodynamic characteristics at hypersonic flow due to formation of separated flow and re-circulation region around the spiked body. An experimental investigation was performed to measure aerodynamic forces for spikes blunt bodies with a conical, hemispherical and flat-face spike at Mach 6 and at an angle-of-attack range from 0° to 8° and length-to-diameterL/Dratio of spike varies from 0.5 to 2.0, whereLis the length of the spike andDis diameter of blunt body. The shape of the leading edge of the spiked blunt body reveals different types of flow field features in the formation of a shock wave, shear layer, flow separation, re-circulation region and re-attachment shock. They are analysed with the help of schlieren pictures. The shock distance ahead of the hemisphere and the flat-face spike is compared with the analytical solution and is showing satisfactory agreement with the schlieren pictures. The influence of geometrical parameters of the spike, the shape of the spike tip and angle-of-attack on the aerodynamic coefficients are investigated by measuring aerodynamic forces in a hypersonic wind tunnel. It is found that a maximum reduction of drag of about 77% was found for hemisphere spike ofL/D= 2.0 at zero angle-of-attack. Consideration for compensation of increased pitching moment is required to stabilise the aerodynamic forces.

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