Numerical Investigation on Longitudinal Stage Separation of Spiked Two-Stage-to-Orbit Vehicle

A longitudinal stage separation (LSS) scheme for a parallel-arrangement two-stage-to-orbit (TSTO) vehicle is proposed and analyzed in detail, which the orbiter moves along upper surface of booster. TSTO concept comprising waverider spaceplane was designed to numerically investigate dynamic characteristics LSS at Mach 7. The influence spike models assembled nose on different angles attack (AoA) (i.e., with half cone, cone-disk, hemispheric spike) explored. Moreover, aerodynamic interference were compared spiked configurations. during simple weak, only associated type VI shock/shock interaction, rapid increases axial force when shock waves both stages converge. Furthermore, model cone has best performance drag reduction by 7%, whereas cone-disk worst that force. [Formula: see text] 5 deg advantageous because high weak interference.