Aerodynamic performance enhancement of supersonic 2D missile using ANSYS

Missile is a self-propelled vehicle flying at supersonic speeds. Their payloads are usually explosive and are also known as warheads. These warheads are used to destroy a pre-set target. The aim of this paper is to optimize the values of the lift and drag forces on the given missile for better aerodynamic performance, by carrying out numerical simulations over the supersonic missile by varying the angle of attack through a set of suitable boundary conditions, while keeping the Mach number of the missile as a fixed parameter. Aerodynamic performance of the missile is studied by varying the angle of attack from 0 to 12 degrees. For every angle of attack, the coefficient of lift and coefficient of drag variations were studied in detail and were compared with the existing literature survey so as to obtain the maximum value of C_L/C_D ratio in order to improve the efficiency. A model of the missile was designed to-scale on Space Claim and the flow analysis was done on FLUENT standalone system using ANSYS 16 workbench. The results obtained, were in the form of flow contours of parameters such as velocity, temperature, density, pressure and turbulence. Through these flow contours the maximum and minimum values of all parameters, as well as the variation in these parameters were estimated. From the numerical analysis it was found that maximum value of C_L/C_D ratio was 2.5 at 12° angle of attack. It was also found that the velocity increased with increase in angle of attack and increased the efficiency. These results are advantageous upcoming to designers who aim to build aerodynamically efficient missiles.