CFD Analysis Based Evaluation of Aerodynamic Characteristics for Supersonic Biplane with Finite Span Length

Abstract

The supersonic biplane is well known as the airfoil that has zero wave drag at the supersonic speed. This paper investigates aerodynamic characteristics of the supersonic biplane with the finite span length and effects of the aspect and taper ratios by comparing with the two-dimensional supersonic biplane which has the infinite span length using the computational fluid dynamics. The rectangular wing was employed to examine the effect of the aspect ratio and tapered wing was employed to inspect the effect of the taper ratio. Both the rectangular wing and the two-dimensional supersonic biplane choke at the high angle of attack. The drag of the three-dimensional wing becomes smaller when it has a higher aspect ratio. The drag polar curve of the three-dimensional wing approaches asymptotically to the drag polar curve of the two-dimensional supersonic biplane when it has a higher taper ratio. The drag of the tapered wing becomes smaller when it has an adequate taper ratio.