Two research institutes TNO Defence, Security and Safety and DRDC-Valcartier have worked together on the improvement of modeling and simulation tools for the functioning of supersonic air intakes for realistic ramjet engines of tactical missiles. The emphasis laid on complex rectangular intake designs making use of an internal bleed system and on incorporating the functioning of air intakes at off-design conditions (below and above the design Mach number and at angle-of-attack with respect to the freestream velocity). In order to generate air intake performance data validated CFD-strategies were pursued. Two-and three dimensional CFD studies were performed and in order to validate the numerical results, a wind tunnel test campaign was conducted. The understanding of ramjet air intakes was greatly enhanced over the years and validated numerical approaches were successfully obtained. Furthermore insight in the influence on the availability of accurate intake performance data on ramjet engine and missile performance levels was gained. © 2009 by TNO Defence, Security and Safety.

The development and acquisition of a new class of military systems known as Nano Air Vehicle (NAV) is possible in not too distant a future as a result of technological progress in a number of areas. These vehicles will likely use flapping wings as there is strong evidence that for very small craft, flapping-wing performance is superior to other options due to dynamic effects that create much higher average lift at low Reynolds numbers. An essential step towards engineering realization of flapping-wing flight is the understanding of the issues for the fully 3-D motion. In this paper, we present an approach adopted towards that objective. Based on system considerations, the general characteristics of a notional NAV to be studied such as size, mass, and wing motions were established. Then, three methods were developed and applied to the notional NAV. The detailed flow physics is captured using accurate Navier-Stokes CFD solutions and a tailored designed instrumented rig in a water tunnel. A vortex-lattice based engineering-type model, refined with the higher accuracy CFD and experimental results, was developed and will be used to efficiently study a variety of prescribed wing shapes and flapping patterns.