Nose Shape Effect on Flight Dynamics of Supersonic Guided Missile With Continuous Deflectable Nose

The flight dynamics of nine configurations of supersonic continuous deflectable nose guided missiles have been investigated. The studied configurations consist of a spherical nose tip, a tangent ogive, a set of stabilizing tail fins and a cylindrical body that its mid-section is flexible to form an arc of a circle. So the cylindrical body consists of a fix part in vicinity of nose, middle flexible part and main body with stabilizers. The effects of fix length and flexible length parameters on the flight dynamics of surface to surface, antiaircraft and antimissile missiles have been studied. A code has been developed to solve full Navier-Stokes equations using finite volume and modified Baldwin-Lomax turbulence model. Further, a 3 degree of freedom code has been developed to compare planar flight dynamics of missiles. This code consists of a guidance subroutine based on pure persuit law. The results show that even increase of fixed and flexible lengths enhance the maneuverability of the missile, but in some scenarios this can lead to increased flight time and more errors in the target engagement. Deflected nose relocates mass center away from the axis and a thrust vector torque is created. Study of surface to surface scenario shows that this torque improves accuracy of targeting and the ability of target dislocation. In air defense missiles, increase of Fix and Flex variables, will extend the limits of allowable firing angle. However, a heavy nose increases the role of thrust torque and subsequently decreases the role of nose geometry.