Aerodynamic Design, Characterization and Flight Performance of RLV-TD

Abstract

Complete aerodynamic design and characterization of ascent as well as descent phases of ReusableLaunch Vehicle-Technology Demonstrator (RLV-TD) have been obtained through thousands of wind tunnel tests, flow simulations using various computational fluid dynamic codes and tailor-made engineering codes. The evolution of the ascent and descent designs, aerodynamic characterization and flight performance is presented in this article. The flight data comparison of aerodynamic coefficients, control surface loads, pressure distribution and external acoustic levels with preflight data is good and therefore, providing confidence in using the ground-based data generation techniques along with defined dispersion bands. Some of the minor deviations in the performance observed in flight were resolved/understood in the post-flight analysis, whereas few effects observed in flight need further understanding.