A Two-Dimensional Analysis of the Flowfield and Performances of Linear Aerospikes During Differential Throttling

The performances of two linear aerospike nozzles, generated by truncating the same plug contour at 40% and 20% of its ideal length, are investigated numerically within a two-dimensional approximation and compared with each other. The nozzle geometry is a 2D representation, extracted from the CAD model of the actual nozzles under experimental investigation. In the working conditions studied here, the nozzle is throttled differentially, by setting different flow conditions on the upper and lower inlet, with the aim of generating thrust vectoring effects. The performances and flowfield of both aerospikes are investigated for values of the nozzle pressure ratio (npr) ranging from 3.7 up to the design condition (NPR=200), and for several levels of differential throttling. The CFD approach adopted is based on a two-dimensional RANS flow model. Comparisons between the numerical and experimental data are performed at two nozzle working conditions: without and with differential throttling. The numerical results are in good agreement with the experimental data. Moreover, the numerical simulations of the throttling case have shown a thrust deflection of about 5 degrees, with a differential pressure of approximately 10 percent.