Variation of Supersonic Aircraft Skin Temperature under Different Mach number and Structure

Stealth technology of combat aircraft is most significant capability in recent air battlefield. As the detector of IR missiles is being developed, IR stealth capability which is evaluated by IR signature level become more important than it was in previous generation. Among IR signature of aircraft from various sources, aerodynamic heating dominates in long-wavelength IR spectrum of $8{\sim}12{\mu}m$. Skin temperature change by aerodynamic heating which is derived by effects of Mach number and structure. The 4th and 5th generation aircraft are selected for calculation of the skin temperature, and its height and velocity in numerical conditions are 10,000 m and Ma 0.9~1.9 respectively. Aircraft skin temperature is calculated by computing convection of fluid and conduction, convection and radiation of surface. As the aircraft accelerates to higher Mach number, maximum skin temperature increases more rapidly than average temperature and temperature distribution changes in more sharp, interactive ways. The 4th generation aircraft whose shape is more complex than that of the 5th generation aircraft have complicated temperature distribution. On the other hand, the 5th generation aircraft whose shape is relatively simple shows plain temperature distribution and lower skin temperature in terms of both average and maximum value.

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