Shock capturing finite-difference and characteristic reference plane techniques for the prediction of three-dimensional nozzle-exhaust flowfields

This report summarizes work accomplished under Contract No. NAS1-12726 towards the development of computational procedures and associated numerical. The flow fields considered were those associated with airbreathing hypersonic aircraft which require a high degree of engine/airframe integration in order to achieve optimized performance. The exhaust flow, due to physical area limitations, was generally underexpanded at the nozzle exit; the vehicle afterbody undersurface was used to provide additional expansion to obtain maximum propulsive efficiency. This resulted in a three dimensional nozzle flow, initialized at the combustor exit, whose boundaries are internally defined by the undersurface, cowling and walls separating individual modules, and externally, by the undersurface and slipstream separating the exhaust flow and external stream.