Free Form Deformation Method Applied to Modeling and Design of Hypersonic Glide Vehicles

The aerodynamic shape of the hypersonic glide vehicle (HGV) has become a research topic nowadays due to its excellent aerodynamic performances. Some limitations need to be reduced when the free-form deformation (FFD) method is applied to parametric modeling and design of an HGV. In this paper, a typical lifting body is considered as an example, and we propose a border-based FFD modeling method that transforms the boundary of FFD lattice into the border of the windward side. Then, the superiority of the border-based FFD modeling method is demonstrated by comparison with the traditional FFD modeling method, and the mesh quality parameters are used to validate the well-deformed model and good geometric continuity of the proposed method. Finally, the border-based FFD modeling method is applied to deformable modeling and aerodynamic simulation of three typical HGV shapes. The results show that the higher efficiency, wider design space, and better applicability are performed by using the border-based FFD modeling method that outperforms the traditional FFD modeling method, and this method we proposed can allow a designer to achieve the better aerodynamic shape of HGVs.