Numerical investigation of unsteady aerodynamic characteristics of a pitching missile

Three-dimensional Reynolds averaged Navier–Stokes numerical simulations were carried out to predict the aerodynamic loads of a pitching winged missile based on the finite volume method. The Baldwin–Lomax eddy viscosity model with the modifications suggested by Degani and Schiff was used here. The computational results of the aerodynamic loads of a slender revolution body are also given, and agreed well with the experiment data. The unsteady aerodynamics about the winged missile, which is oscillated in pitching with different frequencies, with different center of rotation and at different range of angle of attack is shown in the paper. It is found that from the computational results, the unsteady hysteresis of the lift, drag and pitch moment coefficients vary not only with the frequency, but also with the position about which the missile performs the oscillatory motions. Although the angle of attack range at which the missile oscillate in pitching are different, the derivative of lift coefficients with respect to the angle of attack is the same for the same phase of oscillating under the same reduced frequency condition.