Computational Analysis of Mechanical Thrust Vectoring C-D Nozzle for Aircraft Engines

This study addresses the control surface instability of the aircraft at critical airspeeds by employing mechanical thrust vectoring using convergent–divergent (CD) nozzle configurations. FUSION 360 software is used to model the 2D geometry of the CD nozzle. The convergent section of the CD nozzle is kept constant for all the cases while the diverging section varies. The diverging angles considered in this study are 5°, 7°, 9°, and 11° while the thrust vectoring angles chosen are 15°, 20°, and 25°. Numerical approach is followed using commercial CFD code, ANSYS Fluent, to conduct simulations for evaluating the influence of diverging angles on thrust vectoring performance at specific thrust vectoring angles. The comparative study identifies that the CD nozzle with 11° diverging angle exhibits superior thrust vectoring performance across varying thrust vectoring angles. Maximum Mach number is observed for 11° diverging angle across different thrust vectoring angles (15°, 20°, and 25°). The maximum Mach number, average Mach number, minimum pressure recorded, and the average pressure observed makes the CD nozzle with 11° diverging angle better than its other counterparts considered in this study with the same thrust vectoring angle.