26th Congress of International Council of the Aeronautical Sciences
including the 8th AIAA Aviation Technology, Integration, and Operations (ATIO) Conference
14 - 19 September 2008, Anchorage, Alaska, USA
Paper ICAS 2008-3.1.1

ESTIMATION OF SUPERSONIC STAGE SEPARATION AERODYNAMICS OF WINGED-BODY LAUNCH VEHICLES USING RESPONSE SURFACE METHODS

G. Erickson, R. Deloach
NASA, USA

Keywords: response surface methods, stage separation aerodynamics, multi-stage launch vehicles, supersonic speeds, shock waves, wind tunnel testing

Statistically-designed experiments were performed in a supersonic wind tunnel to estimate the stage-separation aerodynamics of two winged-body vehicles during a simulated launch sequence. Response surface modeling techniques were used to establish low-order aerodynamic coefficient prediction functions within a partitioned experimental design space.

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