Introducing the HFV-3X, AeroRocket's version of the DARPA HTV-3X known as the Blackswift  represents AeroRocket's proposal for a new hypersonic spacecraft capable of flight to 300,000 feet and top speed from Mach 5 to Mach 10. A miniature subsonic wind tunnel model of the new HFV-3X has been fabricated for experimental determination of CD, CL, CLa, CMa and L/D for use with AeroWindTunnel a subsonic and supersonic aircraft design program. Supersonic drag and lift properties of the HFV-3X design will be investigated using AeroRocket's new supersonic blow-down wind tunnel. Please see the Wikipedia article about the HTV-3X that contains DARPA video and other interesting information about this proposed space plane.

HFV-3X Design (348 KB Download, password required) - Upon request the HFV-3X Design file is provided as a FREE bonus after purchasing any AeroRocket software package costing $35 or more. This technical report is a WinZip file containing techniques used to fabricate the 9 inch long HFV-3X subsonic wind tunnel model, HFV-3X wind tunnel model templates, full size orthographic image of the HFV-3X, full scale dimensions and an AeroWindTunnel screen shot showing CD verses Mach number for the HFV-3X.

SUBSONIC WIND TUNNEL
The AeroRocket subsonic wind tunnel is a suction system powered by a two speed 1/3 horsepower fan. The test section is 7 inches wide x 10 inches high x 16 inches long. A research quality pitot tube measures the difference between static and dynamic pressure in the test section. The resulting differential determines flow velocity using an analog velocity meter. Small models that represent large designs are routinely tested in the AeroRocket wind tunnel.

SUPERSONIC BLOW-DOWN WIND TUNNEL (1" DIAMETER)
The new AeroRocket 1" diameter supersonic blow-down wind tunnel performs drag measurements up to Mach 3. AeroRocket's expertise in the fabrication of miniature wind tunnel models makes possible the measurement of supersonic Cd for designs ranging from simple high power rockets to the complex HTV-3X. This new supersonic wind tunnel has already been used to determine drag coefficient of the HTV-3X. These measurements determined drag coefficient for the HTV-3X to be: Cd = 0.2435 at M = 1.6.

Miniature HTV-3X Supersonic Blow-Down Wind Tunnel Model

Close-up view of the new 1" diameter Supersonic Blow-Down Wind Tunnel

The zero-lift drag coefficient (Cd) verses Mach number curve displayed below (blue line) was generated using AeroWindTunnel with Surface-Roughness equal to None. For this analysis the inlet area, A_inlet is included.

The classically generated Cd verses Mach number curve (red dots) was generated using the hypersonic wave drag equation (CD_wave) added to base drag (Cd_base) then plotted verses the AeroWindTunnel results.

The Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) pressure-contour plot displayed to the right is the result of two separate two-dimensional VisualCFD analyses. The upper half of the two-dimensional analysis represents the upper-half of the HTV-3X airframe and the lower two-dimensional analysis in the plot represents the lower-half of the airframe to form the entire Mach 2.64 HTV-3X flow pattern.

AeroWindTunnel Cd verses M (blue line) compared to the Cd at M = 2.64
predicted by VisualCFD (red dot) where A_inlet Cd_base and Cd_friction are included.

A 22 inch long rocket powered version of the X-30 NASP is being used to demonstrate the pitch and yaw stability characteristics first predicted by AeroWindTunnel and then validated by subsonic and supersonic wind tunnel testing. Due to the complexity of the HTV-3X the final design for this effort will instead be similar to the X-30. A launcher is being built that will demonstrate the aerodynamics of the rocket powered X-30, pictured to the right, when launched at an angle of 30 to 45 degrees from the horizontal. More details will follow.