The Computational Fluid Dynamics of a Swept Wing in Hypersonic Flow

In this thesis the aerodynamic effects of hypersonic flow around different swept wing shapes will be analysed. For the analysis, computational fluid dynamic (CFD) simulations were used to find these affects. Following these simulations, a comparison was made with an existing numerical program used to find the pressures across the swept wing shapes, entitled HYPAERO. Also another theoretical program was written for the purpose of this thesis to calculate the pressures across the wing using simple two dimensional shock and expansion theory; these results were also compared with the numerical and CFD solutions.When increasing the sweep angle of the wing will inherently change the entire geometry. With this change in geometry will include a decrease in the area present on the wing and also a rise in the deflection angle created by the wing. With this increase in deflection angle will in turn increase the shock and expansion along the length of the wing (shock -front wing, expansion - rear wing). When forces were calculated from the pressures, the smaller swept wings had larger forces due to larger area. All three methods of calculations to derive these forces, underline this conclusion. A comparison was made with the Forces calculated by the CFD and the numerical methods and the maximum variance was 5.41 percent.When increasing the Mach Speed of the flow and keeping dynamic pressure constant at 50 kPa will reduce the pressure caused upon the system. This in turn will then reduce the force present upon the wing. This is shown in all three methods of calculations showing a maximum variance between the CFD and numerical methods to be 4.71 percent.When increasing the inclination angle of the system, will increase the Cp on the bottom of the wing and reduce the Cp on the top of the wing, producing lift upon the system. The lift for each system increased linearly with respect to the angle of inclination, and CFD and HYPAERO results reflected this relationship. A comparison of the CFD and numerical systems of calculating the Cp values showed a maximum difference of 10.47 percent.The main difference between the CFD simulated results and the numerical results, were the pressures towards the tip of each individual wing. From the numerical results it was shown that the pressure on the front wing, towards the tip was lower than the CFD value and the pressure on the rear of the wing was greater than that of the CFD values. So a conclusion was made that the HYPAERO was not producing a great enough expansion/shock, which results in these varying pressures across the system.