Abstract: In order to study the increased thrust of thermal launching missile, three different exhaust spaces are designed, and the governing equations for simulating the thermal launch process of missile and a region-wide structured grid model of missile are established using CFD method. Second-order upwind scheme and fully implicit method are used for spatial discrete and time discrete, respectively. The process and velocity of missile exiting from launch tube in three different exhaust spaces are calculated. The aerodynamic characteristics of missile and the changing process of increased thrust for the motion of missile in launcher are analyzed. The numerical results are consistent with the experimental results. The results show that the exhaust space can be changed to achieve the re-use of gas energy, and convert the aerodynamic force to a thrust for missile motion in order to improve the velocity of missile and reduce the energy consumption of missile launching.

Key words: ordnance science and technology, thermal launching, additional thrust, exhaust space, numerical simulation