Improving the Performance of Re-entry Vehicle in Hypersonic Flow by Morphing Nose cone by Bio-Mimicking Honey Bee Abdomen

Aerospace vehicles that incorporate both aeronautics and astronautics functions are fully reusable, serving as a crucial asset for nations vying for dominance in air and space control. Nevertheless, the existing nose cone of the aerospace vehicle fails to adapt effectively to variations in the external environment. The rigid configuration of the nose cone significantly diminishes the range of motion and flexibility. Hypersonic re-entry vehicles are affected greatly by the gravity of the earth that results the vehicle damage due to high temperature and drag. So, reduce drag in atmosphere, the surface temperature and to improve the performance of re-entry vehicles hundreds of experiments are carried out focusing on nose cone, wings, leading edge geometry and thrust of a space shuttle. This work presents a biomimetic skeletal structure of a morphing nose cone, inspired by the changeable geometry mechanism of a honey bee 's abdomen, capable of continuous stretching and bending. The simulation analysis of the morphing nose cone is undertaken to assess aerodynamic performance. The ability to morph is crucial for aerospace vehicles to effectively utilise aerodynamics, mobility, and flight control while penetrating and re-entering the environment. Nevertheless, the present aerospace vehicle still faces the difficulty of being able to swiftly alter the structure of its nose cone. This research conducts numerous simulations on the abdomen of honey bee s to improve their flight qualities through the adjustment of their biomorphic morphology. The aerospace vehicle has a morphing structure inspired by the honey bee 's abdomen to enhance both its capacity to scale along the axis and its bending qualities. This innovation can result in exceptional flight manoeuvrability. <br/><br/>A novel bionic morphing structure is introduced and utilised in the design of the morphing nose cone of an aeronautical vehicle, in conjunction with optimal design and topological methodologies. In this study, the geometry of the nosecone is based on the morphing of honey bee abdomen at different phases i.e, Default, contraction, extension, extension with bending at 2.5 degree downward and extension and bending at 5 degree downward. All the phases are analysed at two geometric structures which are nose cone morphing honey bee abdomen without spike and nosecone morphing honey bee abdomen with flat D-aerospike. The presence of a strong bow shock in honey bee abdomen morphed nosecone without spike generates significant drag, which diminishes in its alternate position. During the honey bee 's extension, both at 2.5 degrees and 5 degrees, the drag appears relatively minimal due to the extension, as the bow shock density is lower compared to the contracted position. The shock stand-off distance significantly influences the flow field. The shock-detachment distance is significantly greater during contraction and default phases, while it is reduced during extension phases. The velocity/Mach number decreases sharply in the shock-stand off distance, resulting in a sonic/sub-sonic region surrounding the stagnation area. During 2.5/5 degree downward angles of the nose cone, the distance becomes greater due to geometric offset. When bending the tip of the nose cone, it somewhat diminishes and becomes offset from the axis, thereby creating an expanded area for shock detachment. The attachment of flat D-spike to a morphing honey bee body exponentially changes the flow field behaviour and effects the aerodynamic drag in a hypersonic flow. As The strong shock/boundary layer and shock/shock interaction of main flow characteristics which is reconfigured at flat D-spike is obvious to see in the morphing nose cone because of the geometry. It is a potential geometry in reducing the drag of a future high speed space vehicle. The flow characteristics and reconfiguration of flow field with their role in drag reduction has been analysed. The forward-facing aerodynamic disc alters the recirculation zone and encases the spike to diminish drag. To capitalise on the aero disc spike for drag reduction, the shear layer and reattachment point must be adjusted posteriorly through the optimal selection of spike length that corresponds with the suitable nose design. The shock detachment distance with the implementation of flat D-spike is drastically small and strong normal shock is re-configured and results in reducing drag. The lowering of drag by an appropriate aerodynamic disc and lift-to-drag ratio will decrease temperature and aerodynamic heating. The aerodynamic characteristics are analysed numerically with ANSYS fluent software, and the design is carried out by Solid works software. Since, morphing helps to adjust and adapt the re-entry vehicle with drag and manageability at any atmospheric condition, the research proposal will stretch attention on the morphing of nose cone bio mimicking honey bee ’s abdomen without spike and with flat D-aero spike geometric design nose cone. This biomimetic nose cone concept design research on Mach, Pressure, shock stand-off distance and aims to optimise the reduction of aerodynamic drag in aerospace vehicles. Computational analyses were conducted using PHYTON to evaluate aerodynamic responses, including drag, kinematic behaviour such as Y-position and Z-deflection, and dynamic acceleration during morphing transitions. The results highlight the potential of adaptive geometries to mitigate aerodynamic limitations while maintaining structural robustness by analysing practical morphing configurations. These findings provide new insights into the feasibility of multi-degree morphing forebody concepts for hypersonic applications and establish a basis for future research on integrated morphing systems aimed at optimising aerodynamic performance, thermal management, and structural resilience. This research offers a framework for the theoretical analysis and experimental validation of the design of a morphing nose cone for aeronautical vehicles.

Name dc:type.qualificationname

Doctoral Thesis

Level dc:type.qualificationlevel

Student thesis

Year dc:date.issued

2026

Author dc:creator

• Alam, Mohammed Morshedul

Advisors dc:contributor.advisor

• MOHAMED, Mohamed
• Afgan, Imran

Language dc:language

eng

Identifier

oai:pure.atira.dk:studenttheses/8a4be945-20dc-4fa1-8e3c-9f6dffd28aac

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:pure.atira.dk:studenttheses/8a4be945-20dc-4fa1-8e3c-9f6dffd28aac