Navier–Stokes predictions of dynamic stability derivatives for air-breathing hypersonic vehicle

• The dynamic behavior of air-breathing hypersonic vehicle WR-A is characterized.
• Dynamic derivatives of WR-A under different dynamic parameters are obtained.
• The acceleration derivative is no more than 20% of the combination derivative.
• The inlet performance parameters are predicted using the dynamic derivative model.
• The dynamic behavior predicted by the areodynamic model agrees well with CFD results.

Dynamic derivatives are important parameters for designing vehicle trajectory and attitude control system that directly decide the divergence behavior of vibration of the aircraft open-loop system under interference. After calibration model validation, the dynamic behavior of air-breathing hypersonic vehicle WR-A is characterized. The unsteady flow field of aircraft forced simple harmonic vibration (SHV) is simulated using N–S equation. The direct damping derivatives, cross derivatives, acceleration derivatives and rotary derivatives of WR-A under different frequencies, amplitudes and positions of centroid are obtained. Research demonstrates that the proportion of acceleration derivatives, which represents the flow time lag effect, in the direct damping derivatives can be as high as 40% but is opposite to the damping derivative value symbols in some cases, contributing to dynamic instability. Numerical simulation on large-amplitude forced vibration of WR-A indicates that the aerodynamic behavior predicted by the dynamic derivative model agrees well with unsteady calculations. The inlet performance parameter derivatives are solved using the Etkin theory. The inlet performance parameters under large-amplitude vibration are successfully predicted using the dynamic derivative model. This offers a guideline for characterizing the dynamic internal flow field and unsteady inlet performance.