Aerodynamic analysis of deployable wing arrangement for space shuttle

Abstract

The study space for morphing wings is astonishingly wide and provides ample scope for enhancements up against fixed wings. Morphing-wing research has accumulated considerable recognition in the aerospace community over the last decade, and a folding wing is a promising approach that can improve aircraft proficiency over multiple varieties of missions which conclusively enhance the capability of the space shuttle. In this paper, the conventional shape of the wings is being refashioned to serve the requirements for maintaining the flight and also for navigation. The idea was sparked by the traditional Japanese fan and has a hinged mechanism similar to that of the fan. This work introduces a novel concept for retractable dynamic wings on a space shuttle. Modeling of the spacecraft with modified wings is done in SOLIDWORKS. The aerodynamic analysis is performed using the computational fluid dynamics (CFD) method with ANSYS FLUENT® (2020 R1) as the solver. The aerodynamic force coefficients are estimated for five different specific deployment phases, viz., zeroth (0°), one quarter (7.5°), half (15°), three-quarter (22.5°), and full (30°) phases. The result reveals that the coefficient of drag drops and the coefficient of lift rises from the primary phase to the final phase providing promising inputs into the idea of retractable wings.