Aerodynamic study for capability increase of a spin-stabilized projectile fitted with fins

International audienceThe present paper covers preliminary developments of a code which goal is to predict aerodynamics of artillery projectiles fitted with a set of lifting surfaces. Coupled to a flight simulator, this kind of low computational cost tool would accelerate the conceptual design stages of new configurations. In this tool, computations of lifting surfaces and interactions between elements involve a Blade Element Method (BEM) together with a numerical lifting line theory, through an iterative circulation based method. Although the code already produces trends for the aerodynamic evaluation of a given airframe configuration, the tool needs to be validated since shortcomings of predictions are expected, due to three dimensional flow effects. In a first step, two spinning finned configurations have been designed and tested in a low speed subsonic wind tunnel for the assessment in the incompressible regime, mainly for the validation of predictions of lift force, drag force and pitching moment. In addition, preliminary free flight tests involving spinning configurations have been carried out at the ISL proving ground