Salta al contenuto

SPACE IPERSONICA TEC

Design of an experimental hypersonic demonstrator powered by a scramjet

Main Goals of the Project

The main objective is the design of an experimental hypersonic demonstrator powered by a scramjet, hence the acronym SHEV (Scramjet Hypersonic Experimental Vehicle). The vehicle is intended to perform a powered level flight at an altitude between 27 and 32 km and at a Mach number between 7 and 8, in order to develop, flight-test, and validate the key technologies for future hypersonic systems.

To this end, several ground demonstrators will be developed and tested to support the development of the flight demonstrator and its technologies, including the full-scale scramjet combustor model, the scaled full-vehicle model for aerodynamic testing, and representative models of the different vehicle’s components where high-temperature materials are expected to be used.

CIRA Activities in the Project

CIRA is responsible for the definition of the system configuration (SHEV and Launch Vehicle), the internal layout, configuration design (CAD, mass and power budget, and structural solutions), and mission support analysis. In particular:

  • development of the aerodynamic and aerothermodynamic databases (AEDB/ATDB) through CFD simulations, including control surface effects;
  • flight mechanics analyses (trimmability, controllability, static stability, nominal trajectory) and definition of the experimental flight window;
  • definition of the methodology and load cases for structural sizing;
  • material layout, thermal analyses, and selection of technologies for hot structures/TPS and TCS;
  • preliminary design of the scramjet propulsion system and development of the propulsion database (PROPDB), supported by CFD simulations;
  • design of an instrumented full-scale scramjet combustor model and of the related test campaign.

General Project Information

Funding Programme: National PRORA Programme; ASI co-funding under the ASI–CIRA Agreement.

Start Date: 04/10/2021; End Date: 31/12/2028

Coordinating Organization: CIRA

Partners: ASI - Italian Space Agency

CIRA Contact: Sara Di Benedetto, s.dibenedetto@cira.it