Hammerhead Launch Vehicle. Supersonic Mach Sweep Analysis
Hammerhead launch vehicles capture a key aerodynamic challenge in vehicle design: integrating large payload fairings with comparatively slender booster bodies. Their enlarged payload fairings and abrupt diameter changes generate complex shock interactions, pressure gradients, and possible flow separation in the supersonic regime, making them a valuable CFD validation case for supersonic launch-vehicle aerodynamic modeling. This validation showcases Flow360 performance in the supersonic by comparing axial and normal force coefficients against wind-tunnel data. The case spans Mach 1.187, 2.410, and 4.752 at a fixed angle of attack of 2 degrees, isolating the effect of Mach number on the integrated loads.
Comparison of Flow360 predictions against reference data. Click an image to expand.
