Aerodynamic characteristics analysis of double swept waverider in wide speed range based on horizontal projection method

To improve the low-speed aerodynamic performance of waverider and investigate the influence of the design basic flow field on its aerodynamic performance, this study adopts a double swept waverider configuration capable of inducing vortex lift. The leading edge attached to the basic shock wave surface is determined using the horizontal projection method, and the axisymmetric basic flow field with predefined shock wave shape is solved using the inverse method of characteristics (IMOC). For the same horizontal projection profile of the leading edge, double swept waveriders are generated in concave-cone, convex-cone, and straight-cone basic flow fields respectively, and their wide-speed performances are analyzed by Computational Fluid Dynamics techniques. The obtained results show that the design of double swept waverider based on the horizontal projection method combined with the inverse method of characteristics is feasible, which effectively expands the design space. The waverider designed based on the concave-cone basic flow field has advantages in lift-to-drag ratio, while the convex-cone basic flow field provides advantages in volumetric efficiency. The basic flow field affects the magnitude of vortex lift by altering the sharpness of the waverider's leading edge, ultimately influencing the low-speed aerodynamic performance of the double swept waverider. In the supersonic and hypersonic regimes, all configurations remain statically stable, and the pressure center is governed by the shock characteristics of the reference flow field, leading to the strongest static stability for the concave-cone–based configuration and the weakest for the convex-cone–based configuration. As the angle of attack increases in the subsonic regime, all configurations gradually transition from static stability to static instability.