Upper stage jet impingement on separated booster

Abstract

The knowledge about the position of the detached shock and the aerodynamic forces acting upon a booster front during upper stage (sustainer) jet impingement on a separated booster is needed in connection with the problem of stage separation in the atmosphere for a multistage launch vehicle. The jet flow is squeezed in by the free-stream and characterised by a non-uniform transverse variation of flow properties. The flow field analysis of a trailing blunt body in such a non-uniform flow has been limited to experimental studies only. Most of the prior analytical treatments were restricted to the study of the effect of free-stream non-uniformities such as source flow and wake-like free-stream velocities on blunt bodies. A somewhat related problem of supersonic, underexpanded jet impingement upon an infinite flat plate in the absence of external stream has been studied by Belov et al and Gummer and Hunt.