A study of fuselage effects on aerodynamic performances of reusable launch vehicles

An experimental and a numerical study have been conducted for the configurations of reusable launch vehicles (RLV). Two Wing-Body models, whose cross section is square and triangle, were used in the present experiments to accumulate data for change of side slip angles. Oil-flow technique is applied to visualize the flow field on model surfaces. As for numerical study, three Body-alone models, whose cross section is square, triangle, and circle, were chosen for applying to CFD method. Through the present experiments, it is found that not only longitudinal but also lateral characteristics for overall evaluation of RLV. From numerical results, cross sectional shapes of fuselages have significant importance to form the separated vortices in subsonic region.