Aerospikes are always an interesting idea to reduce the drag and heat on the surfaces of aerospace vehicles at speeds greater than sonic conditions. A variety of aerospike configurations are already explored by scientists for a veriety of flow regimes. Here 3 different configurations are explored to reduce the drag and heat on surface of blunt body cruising at 6 Mach at 0 AoA. The configuration of aerospike with hemisphere attached to the tip is being observed as the most suitable as reported by a no. of scientist. As it is clear from the figure that the reattachment shock pulls back from the shoulder of the blunt body upon the spikes are added to the original configuration. It moves farther with the hemispherical aerospike configuration which subsequently reduces the drag and heat on the body.
MSc in Aeronautical Engineering
12moWouldn't that cause an extreme amount of localised heating? And ensuring the structural integrity of that slender structure would be challenging as well.