Hypersonic aircraft travel over five times the speed of sound. At that velocity, water droplets could have a surprising impact.
During hypersonic flight, an aircraft or missile flies at speeds exceeding Mach 5. Mach 5 is five times the speed of sound, or 6,173 km/h . At those speeds, an aircraft could fly anywhere in less than four hours.
As it cuts through the air, this hypersonic vehicle will likely interact with rain, hail, snow, and other water-based particles. At such high speeds, it’s important to know how these particles could impact the vehicle’s surface. In a new study, a team of scientists has investigated how water droplet clouds interact with the hypersonic air flow fields. Water particles versus hypersonic aircraftOn impacting a hypersonic vehicle, water droplets can break up into a cloud of smaller ones. The team behind the new study tested how these clouds interact with two types of canonical geometries. Their work is detailed in a paper published in the journal Physics of Fluid.In their study, the scientists showed that post-impact, droplets are likely to become entrapped and then accelerate near the vehicle’s surface. According to a press statement, this “could disrupt the air flow around the vehicle and increase the possibility of droplet impact on the structure, especially if the droplets are large.”Modeling these types of behaviors is exceedingly challenging due to the complexity of hypersonic flows. For their simulations, they employed a hybrid approach. Firstly, they simulated the flow field using an Eulerian framework. This resolved the air flow around the vehicle and also allowed the researchers to track individual droplets using a Lagrangian approach. “Integrating sub-models in the Eulerian framework allowed them to capture key multiphase interactions,” the press statement read.The development of next-gen hypersonic vehiclesThe team’s work could prove to be important in the development of new hypersonic aircraft.“This observation underscores the necessity of considering droplet breakup when estimating the impact force of particles on the vehicle’s surface,” explained author Prithvi Ramesh. “Predicting air-droplet dynamics and their potential impacts on hypersonic vehicles is relevant not only to the development of the next generation of hypersonic vehicles, but also to deepening our understanding of the fundamental physics involved in multiphase flows under extreme conditions.”Following the publication of their latest research, the scientists aim to perform more advanced simulations. These will allow them to investigate the behavior of individual droplets.The world’s leading military powers are increasingly testing hypersonic technologies to give them the edge on the battlefield. According to the US Army, hypersonic weapons cans trike anywhere on Earth in minutes. Private company Venus Aerospace, meanwhile, is looking to revolutionize commercial air transportation with a new hypersonic airliner.
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