EURECA 2013 Conference Paper

Drag of Conical Nose at Supersonic Speeds

Arthur S.Q Saw*, Abdulkareem Sh. Mahdi Al-Obaidi
Department of Mechanical Engineering, School of Engineering, Taylor's University, Malaysia *Corresponding author: arthursherqen.saw@sd.taylors.edu.my Abstract In designing a projectile, there are various configurations and designs that can be considered. Normally, the shape and design of the projectile are selected on the basis of the combined considerations of aerodynamic, guidance and structure. One of the main design factors that affect projectile configuration is the nose drag. In this study four widely known nose shapes are considered, pointed and blunted cone; pointed and blunt ogive. The drag of the configurations is considered with respect to the Mach number. As fineness ratio and Mach number increases the overall drag decreases. Each drag component behaves differently depending on the Mach number and fineness ratio. The drag is compared based on the 3 main drag components; skin friction drag, wave drag and base drag. For this paper only the conical nose shape is presented. Keywords Skin friction drag, Base drag, Wave drag, Nose, Supersonic

Fig. 2 Blunted Cone.

Fig. 3 Pointed Ogive.

Fig. 4 Blunted Ogive.

1. Introduction
There are multiple configurations and designs of projectile noses that are taken into account during the design stage. The final nose design is selected after considering aerodynamic, structural and guidance as well as Tactical-Technical-Requirements (TTR) of the mission. The case considered in this study is a 300 km range supersonic surface missile. As a result of having different requirements and restrictions there is no perfect configuration and the design undergoes various design changes till an optimum compromise is reached with the requirements mostly met [1]. One of the key considerations or factors of a projectiles aerodynamic consideration is the nose drag which will be the focus of this study. In general, there are three drag components, drag directly related to the cross-sectional of the projectile, skin-friction drag due to the contact between the surfaces of the projectile (roughness) with the surrounding air particles (viscosity), wave drag as a result of the shock wave and base drag as a result of bluntness and diameter of the base. In layman terms drag is a force which is parallel but in opposite direction to the direction of the velocity vector of an object and it is opposing the objects motion [2]. This paper focuses on the nose drag at supersonic speeds, taking speeds from Mach 2 to Mach 4. For this study a wingless body projectile, forebody with cylindrical afterbody considered. The drag will be studied on the aerodynamic aspect of the nose design. This study is a section of an ongoing study which considers four common nose shapes to be analysed for their drag aerodynamic performance; pointed (Fig. 1) and blunt cone (Fig. 2); and pointed (Fig. 3) and blunt ogive (Fig. 4). This paper presents the results for one shape only, the pointed conical nose.

2. Methodology
The aim of this study is to research what are the effects of a different nose configuration has on the drag of a projectile travelling at supersonic speeds. The goal is to produce a design table with selected parameters which would assist a projectile designer in selecting the optimum nose for the projectile. The parameters considered in the design table are drag coefficient and nose geometry. The main approach used in this study is the analytical approach. The drag of the noses are analyzed with mathematical formulas to calculate the three main components of drag that forms the zero-lift drag coefficient (Eq. 1)[1]; skin friction drag (Eq. 2) [3], wave drag (Eq. 3) [4] and base drag (Eq. 4) [3]. = + + (1) = (2) where CF represents the skin friction coefficient for a smooth/ flat plate and Sw the wetted area
= (3) 4 where, S is the wetted area, L is the length of the body, V is the volume and is a factor of geometry and Mach number

128

R L
Fig. 1 Pointed Cone.

where, is the base diameter, is the free stream velocity, is the ratio of specific heats, and are base pressure and free stream static pressure respectively To be more specific, the zero lift drag coefficient (dimensionless) basically describes the resistance of a particular body in the direction of the moving force or motion. The equation makes use of the wetted area and viscosity to determine the drag and is measured at zero angle of attack. Skin-friction drag is the result of viscous forces acting on the surface of the projectile. It is also very dependent on the wetted area. Wave drag describes the drag due to the interaction of the body with the flow particles and is related to shockwave energy losses. Base drag is the drag formed from the base pressure as a result of the bluntness at the object and is highly dependent on the size of the base.

2 2

(1

(4)

EURECA 2013 Conference Paper

A Matlab program is developed to run these formulas for all the different cases of the nose configuration. The results are tabulated in a graphical manner to demonstrate the relation and contribution of each component. One important factor that affects drag under the nose geometry section is the fineness ratio. Fineness ratio is the ratio of the length of the nose divided by its diameter (Eq. 5) [5] and Fig. 1. = (5) 2 Next, semi empirical approach is used as a means to support the analytical approach. Values such as from (Eq. 4) are acquired from graphs.
F ine ne s s R a t io=1 0. 6 0. 5 0. 4 F ine ne s s R a t io=2 F ine ne s s R a t io=3 F ine ne s s R a t io=4 F ine ne s s R a t io=5

CDw

0. 3 0. 2 0. 1 0 2 3 4 5

Mach Number

3. Results and discussion

The graphical results of the study are generated with Matlab, which is also used as a means of calculation to obtain the individual results. Figure 6 shows the effects of the fineness ratio as the Mach number changes. At lower Mach number (e.g., Mach 2) the CD exhibits a higher value although it decreases as the fineness ratio is increased. However, the rate of decrease of the drag reaches its maximum at fineness ratio 3 after that the change in CD is not so apparent. Also increasing the Mach number also results in a noticeable decrease in the drag.
1. 4 F ine ne s s R a t io=1 1. 2 1 0. 8 F ine ne s s R a t io=2 F ine ne s s R a t io=3 F ine ne s s R a t io=4 F ine ne s s R a t io=5

Fig. 8 Wave Drag, Cdw as a Function of Fineness Ratio and Mach Number.

Figure 8 demonstrates that the change in wave drag is mostly affected by the fineness ratio. As the fineness ratio increases the wave drag decreases. This agrees with the logic that an increased fineness ratio makes the nose more slender where it is able to stay in the Mach cone with minimal air disturbance. When compared to the skin friction drag, the drag coefficient values in general are much higher especially at low fineness ratios.

4. Conclusion and recommendation

By increasing the fineness ratio of the nose, it is possible to reduce the overall drag of the projectile. However, increasing the fineness ratio without proper study could possibly result in a higher drag coefficient. Increasing the fineness ratio in fact increases the skin friction drag, while it doesnt contribute much as seen with its small CDsf values compared to the total CD but if the fineness ratio is increased beyond the values of the graph it may become more significant as the graph clearly shows an increasing trend. Also it can be noted that the wave drag is the largest contributor especially at low Mach number and low fineness ratio due to more energy losses. While the base drag is only affected by the Mach number, however as it enters the supersonic speed range the base drag decreases as such it is less of a concern. From this study, a projectile designer aiming to reduce drag should focus more on the wave drag component as it is the largest contributor and care should be taken not to increase the fineness ratio without proper consideration as he may end up increasing drag instead. For further study, it is recommended that Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) be used as an additional verification tool due to its current advancement and ease of use in providing and displaying graphics to help understand the airflow around the nose. CFD also allows multiple configurations to be tested initially without resorting to expensive wind tunnel testing.

CD

0. 6 0. 4 0. 2 0 2 3 4 5

Mach Number

Fig .6 Total Drag Coefficient, CD as a Function of Fineness Ratio and Mach Number.
0. 02 F ine ne s s R a t io=1 F ine ne s s R a t io=2 0. 015 F ine ne s s R a t io=3 F ine ne s s R a t io=4 F ine ne s s R a t io=5

CDsf

0. 01

References
1. Mahdi, A. and Al-Atabi, M. (2008) Effect of Body Shape on the Aerodynamics of Projectiles at Supersonic Speeds. Journal of Engineering Science and Technology (JESTEC), 3 (3), 278-292. 2. Bertin, J.J., and Cummings, R.M., (2009). Aerodynamics for engineers. New Jersey, Pearson/ Prentice Hall. 3. Mccoy, R. (1981). "MC DRAG"- A Computer Program for Estimating the Drag Coefficients of Projectiles. [report] Maryland: US Army Armament Research and Development Command. 4. Sadreay, M. (2009). Aircraft Performance Analysis. Saarbrcken, VDM Verlag Dr. Mller. 5. Crowell Sr, G. (1996). The Descriptive Geometry of Nose Cones. Miscellaneous Paper.

0. 005

Mach Number

Fig .7 Skin Friction Drag, CDsf as a Function of Fineness Ratio and Mach Number.

Figure 7 displays the behavior of the skin friction drag that increases in proportion with the fineness ratio. This is consistent with Eq. 2 that contains the variable which is the wetted area (area of reference). By increasing the fineness ratio, the geometry of the nose also increases and thus leads to an increase in surface area. Next, based on (Eq. 4), it can be noted that the base drag is independent of the shape and fineness ratio of the nose. It is only affected by the base diameter and Mach number which also in turn influences the base pressure.