Hypersonic Thermal-Structural Concept Trends

Improvement in airframe structural efficiency through the utilization of unique and minimum weight concepts is a primary applied engineering objective for the hypersonic environment. The essential elements for hypersonic structures criteria are temperature environment, low load intensities, room temperature load conditions, structural stability, minimum gage material requirements, material producibility, reusability, nonoptimum factors, and vehicle configuration compatibility. A comparison of thermal structural concepts indicates that the hot load-carrying structure is the leading candidate for a typical M8 hypersonic cruise vehicle wing and fuselage application.