Abstract:
In hypersonic payload release, the aft ejection and dispensing scheme offers the combined advantages of reduced aerodynamic interference, thermal protection, and stealth performance. However, the process of aft ejection and dispensing within a hypersonic wake inevitably induces a certain degree of unsteady, nonlinear aerodynamic interference, which may lead to trajectory divergence and attitude instability during separation. To this end, the present study focuses on a multi-body system consisting of a hypersonic carrier vehicle a dispenser mounted inside and four sub-missiles loaded within the dispenser. A multi-body separation numerical simulation method based on overset grid technology is employed to investigate the flowfield evolution laws during two distinct stages: the aft ejection of the dispenser and the subsequent dispensing of the sub-missiles, both occurring within the hypersonic carrier wake. The analysis reveals the complex unsteady interference characteristics and underlying physical mechanisms among the multiple bodies, as well as between the bodies and the three-dimensional asymmetric wake field. Furthermore, the trajectory evolution laws throughout the separation process are identified and further clarified. The results demonstrate that, for a typical operating condition at an altitude of 25 km and Mach 5, during the aft ejection stage, the carrier projectile interacts with the wake shear layer of varying morphology and thickness, resulting in high-pressure regions of different shapes and intensities on its cone and base plate. Owing to the temporal sequencing in the formation of these high-pressure regions, the nose of the carrier projectile exhibits an attitude variation characterized by an initial deflection toward the windward side followed by a subsequent deflection toward the leeward side. During the dispensing stage, the sub-missiles first encounter a strong bow shock from the carrier projectile, which induces localized high-pressure regions on the sub-missiles. Subsequently, under the combined influence of the wake vortical flow and the unsteady effects of body motion, the high-pressure region at the nose of each sub-missile shifts toward the direction of the resultant velocity summing the freestream velocity and the sub-missile velocity, and the nose exhibits an attitude variation characterized by a deflection opposite to the direction of this resultant velocity vector. The above analysis can provide a reference for hypersonic payload separation schemes.