Projecte matriculat
Títol: Analysis of the aerodynamic-electromagnetic trade-off in missile design: drag vs. radar detectability
Director/a: ARIAS CALDERÓN, SANTIAGO
Departament: FIS
Títol: Analysis of the aerodynamic-electromagnetic trade-off in missile design: drag vs. radar detectability
Data inici oferta: 19-01-2026 Data finalització oferta: 19-09-2026
Estudis d'assignació del projecte:
DG ENG AERO/SIS TEL
| Tipus: Individual | |
| Lloc de realització: EETAC | |
| Paraules clau: | |
| Aerodynamics, Computational fluid dynamics, Missile design, Radar cross section, Radar detectability, Trajectory analysis | |
| Descripció del contingut i pla d'activitats: | |
| High-speed missile systems are complex multidisciplinary platforms in which aerodynamic performance and electromagnetic detectability play a key role in the overall system effectiveness. In particular, the external geometry of the missile, and especially the nose (ogive) shape, has a significant influence on both aerodynamic drag and radar cross section (RCS). While aerodynamic optimization typically aims at minimizing drag to improve range and performance, radar systems rely on electromagnetic scattering properties to detect and track airborne targets, leading to an inherent trade-off between these two design objectives.
From an aerodynamic point of view, the missile nose shape affects the pressure distribution, shock formation, and flow separation, which directly impact the drag coefficient under transonic and supersonic flight conditions. From an electromagnetic perspective, the same geometric features determine how incident radar waves are scattered, influencing the RCS and, consequently, the detectability of the vehicle by radar systems. Understanding the interaction between these aerodynamic and electromagnetic aspects is therefore essential in the preliminary design of missile systems. The objective of this Bachelor's Thesis is to analyze and quantify the aerodynamic-electromagnetic trade-off associated with different ogive geometries. The work is structured into three main activities. First, a computational fluid dynamics (CFD) analysis is conducted using OpenFOAM to evaluate the aerodynamic behavior of several nose shapes under representative flight conditions, with particular emphasis on drag estimation. Second, the aerodynamic results are incorporated into a simplified flight dynamics model to compute missile trajectories and assess the impact of drag variations on flight performance. Finally, the radar detectability of the different configurations is studied using MATLAB, where analytical and semi-empirical models are applied to estimate the RCS and to evaluate detection range and probability of detection through classical radar equations. By combining aerodynamic simulations, trajectory analysis, and radar-based detectability assessment, this project provides a multidisciplinary framework to study design trade-offs in missile nose geometry and illustrates the compromises involved between aerodynamic efficiency and radar observability. |
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