Investigations of the Effect on Lift of a Spaceplane with Different Fuselage Geometries

Abstract

This study investigates the relations between three types of different fuselage geometries and the lift coefficient of spaceplanes using fluid dynamic simulation. The differences are clarified by the local forces, such as pressure and local-lift coefficients. The results suggest no significant differences in the lift coefficient between the vertical-long circle and the true one. Concurrently, the horizontal fuselage had a significantly lower lift coefficient than other fuselages. Similarly, the lift gradient of the horizontal fuselage showed lower values than other fuselages. These lower values were caused by the differences in the pressure distribution at the wing root near the fuselage, which produced two major differences in the local-lift coefficient. First, the increase in lift at the wing leading edge does not occur even if the angle of attack is higher. Second, negative lift occurs at the fuselage behind the wing trailing edge, and the value becomes larger for the horizontal-long circle fuselages.