Experimental and numerical studies on tile-shaped aerospike nozzle

Tile-shaped aerospike nozzle and bell nozzle were studied by experiments and numerical simulation. Chamber pressure, thrust and ambient pressure were acquired. Experimental efficiency altitude characteristics were illustrated. The performances of test nozzles were computed and the numerical results show good agreement with the experimental data. It is shown that tile-shaped aerospike nozzle has the capacity of altitude compensation compared with bell nozzle. It is found that plug contour designed by characteristics has good performance and simplified line contour causes severe performance losses. For its high performances, tile-shaped aerospike nozzle can be a promising candidate for the future engineering application.