Numerical simulations for plug nozzle flowfiels

The reduction of Earth-to-Orbit launch costs in conjunction with an increase in launcher realibility and operational efficiency are the key demands on future space transportation systems, like Single- Stage-to-Orbit vehicles. The realization of these vehicles strongly depend on the capability of the engines, in delivery high performances at low systems complexity. In this paper we are interested to develop a 2- D axysimmetric numerical procedure, easily extendible to 3-D configurations, based on the full time-dependent Navier-Stokes equations to compute the external flow of the linear plug nozzle. We will address our numerical investigation on the performance of the linear plug nozzles in different flight configuration. © 2001 by the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics, Inc. All rights reserved.