Transverse Jets for Control of Missile Steering Thrustors

Abstract

Following a brief comparison of pulse-duration-modulation and proportional systems, a detailed program of analysis and experimentation is described in which thrustors throttled by high velocity transverse jets are evaluated. For a gas jet injected normal to the flow at the throat of a sonic nozzle, an analytical model was developed that gives excellent agreement with experimental observations. Experimental studies were conducted for a variety of jet and mainstream conditions and utilizing quantitative and qualitative techniques to describe the jet/mainstream interaction. Within the range of the test results, insufficient mainstream throttling is attainable to warrant the use of the method as a proportional control device for missile steering thrustors.