Effects of propulsive jet on the flow field in the tail region of a missile in a supersonic stream

Work concentrated on the effects of an under-expanded supersonic jet on the external supersonic flow past a typical missile configuration. Jet simulation in the wind tunnel was achieved by means of a small Ludwieg tube, which allowed jet operation times of about 0.1 s. The circular cylinder missile model with ogival nose had three different afterbody configurations: cylindrical, and conical boat tailing of 5 deg and 10 deg respectively. The experiments were carried out in the DFVLR High-Speed Wind tunnel at free-stream Mach numbers of Ma infinity = 1.5 and Ma infinity = 1.98; angles of attack were varied between alpha = -4 deg and alpha = 8 deg. Base pressures and pressure distributions on the afterbodies were measured without jet and with jets of various exit-pressure ratios. Schlieren pictures were taken in order to get some insight into the flow field in the tail region of the missile, especially with respect to flow separation.