Significant aerodynamic interference can occur between high-speed bodies in close proximity. A complex flowfield develops where shock and expansion waves from a generator body impinge upon the adjacent receiver body. The pressure and flow angularity changes which occur across these disturbances modify the body aerodynamics. The aim of this research is to quantify the aerodynamic interference effects for multi-body configurations and understand the relevant flow physics.The interference aerodynamics for slender bodies in a supersonic flow were investigated through a parametric wind tunnel study. The receiver bodies were finned and un-finned configurations. The effect of lateral and axial body separations, receiver incidence and the strength of the disturbance field were investigated. Measurements included forces and moments, surface pressures and flow visualisations. Supporting computations using steady-state, viscous predictions provided a deeper understanding of the underlying aerodynamics and flow mechanisms. Good agreement was found Many people have contributed to the completion of this research. I would like to take time to thank them. My supervisor David MacManus for his guidance and help throughout. I would especially like to thank him for the many occasions when he took my work home with him to read and provide feedback during the writing process. I would like to acknowledge the financial support of the UK MOD. The investigation which is the subject of this report was initiated by the Air Systems Department Dstl and was carried out under the terms of Contract No RD025 -1962. Additional funding was also provided through an ESPRC CASE award. I would also like to thank Dstl for the release of experimental data which greatly enhanced this research. Trevor Birch for his constant support and guidance throughout. In particular, I would like to thank him for making arrangements for me to undertake two placements at Dstl. These aided my research and I enjoyed my time at Dstl immensely. Moreover, I would like to also thank Ben Shoesmith and Kristian Petterson who gave up alot of their own time in order to assist me. Their help with IMPNS and Cobalt was particularly useful.

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Aerodynamic interference can occur between high-speed bodies when in close proximity. A complex flowfield develops where shock and expansion waves from a generator body impinge upon the adjacent receiver body and modify its aerodynamic characteristics. The aims of this paper are to validate a computational prediction method, to use the predicted solutions to interpret the measured results and to provide a deeper understanding of the associated flow physics.

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