Chapter 1501: Junhong said nothing, just nodded

Compared with Plan A, which was simple and crude and used rocket engines to create miracles, the progress of Plan B was relatively backward. It was only because the prospects of ramjet power were indeed broader and the temptation of synthetic aperture radar reconnaissance capabilities that the suspense was retained until now.

However, as the impact of the 08 financial crisis gradually weakened, the urgency of military struggle began to increase day by day. No matter how round the pie was, the aviation force could not wait indefinitely.

Therefore, after the cooperation intention was confirmed, the task of improving Plan B was quickly launched...

One week later, Huairou Science City.

Cheng Junhong stood in the JF10 wind tunnel control room, looking at the Wuzhen 8B model being removed from the fixed frame on the screen, and subconsciously reached out to wipe the sweat from his forehead.

But it came up empty.

After all, the air conditioning in the computer room was sufficient, and the feeling of heat only came from his heart.

This is certainly not the first time that Wuzhen 8 has undergone wind tunnel testing, but it is the most important one.

The test results almost directly determined whether his Plan B could continue to participate in the election or could only exist as a technical verification machine for magnetohydrodynamic power generation.

"Mr. Cheng, Researcher Li said that the test has been completed and the report is being compiled." Assistant Xiao Wang walked over quickly and handed over a cup of hot tea.

Cheng Junhong took the thermos cup but didn't drink it: "Then...did Academician Chang express his opinion?"

Before Xiao Wang could answer, the door of the control room was pushed open.

Chang Haonan, wearing a light blue lab coat, walked in quickly, followed by several other technicians. "Let's go to the conference room to analyze the results. There are a few questions we need to discuss in detail over there."

Cheng Junhong subconsciously glanced at her watch:

"So fast?"

After blurting it out, I realized that my words seemed to be a bit doubtful of the other party's meaning, so I quickly added:

"I mean, the last time I came here to do basic aerodynamic testing, I waited three days for the report?"

Faced with this question, Chang Haonan couldn't think of any euphemism for a moment, so he had to answer truthfully:

"You have to send the test results in three days. For me...it usually takes three hours..."

"..."

In fact, for wind tunnel centers that deal with hypersonic conditions on a daily basis, the test data of WZ-8 can be considered concise. If it were just an internal analysis, there would be no need to issue a special report.

By the time a few people had walked from the control room to the conference room, several of the most important data graphs had already appeared on the big screen.

“It looks…better than we expected.”

Cheng Junhong's tone was very restrained, but from the joy flashing in his eyes, it was not difficult to tell that he was quite satisfied with his design.

"As far as the original plan is concerned, it is indeed very good." Chang Haonan first gave his affirmation, but then changed the subject, "But Mr. Cheng, did you notice that at Mach 4.8, there was a slight airflow separation at the lower edge of the inlet?"

Cheng Junhong flipped open the data sheet in front of him and checked it carefully: "Indeed, but the separation range is very small, it should... not affect the overall performance?"

"It can indeed be ignored in conventional designs." Chang Haonan pointed at the screen with a laser pen, "But if we consider the magnetohydrodynamic power generation channel, this location happens to be the plasma generation area, and even a slight airflow disturbance may lead to a significant drop in power generation efficiency."

Cheng Junhong's heart tightened.

At the same time, the staff nearby had already adjusted the simulated installation position of the magnetohydrodynamic power generation component.

Sure enough, the area just pointed out was the key part of the plan.

Chang Haonan stood up and walked to the big screen: "Let me show you an example first."

He pulled up a set of pictures and said, "This is the magnetohydrodynamic power generation test we did on the Lingxiao-1 dual-mode ramjet last year. The original 4.75-meter-long engine reached 9.73 meters after the complete system was added."

There was an uproar in the conference room.

Cheng Junhong's face turned a little ugly: "You mean, our Yachong-2 will also increase so much... more than double?"

The WZ-8 needs to be launched by the H-6, which is not very large in size. Plan B is even smaller than Plan A. In any case, it is impossible for it to accommodate two engines that are longer than itself.

"That's not the case." Chang Haonan shook his head and said comfortingly, "The test of Lingxiao-1 was relatively rough. We were mainly focused on principle verification at the time...Ya Chong-2 is a mature ramjet engine, and its operating parameters are relatively mild. It does not require such a complex internal rectifier device, and the size of the enhancer can also be reduced..."

Cheng Junhong and his team are not experts in stamping power, so he simply explained the main principles and gave the answer directly:

"In short, after preliminary calculations, it still needs to be extended by about 25%."

Cheng Junhong breathed a sigh of relief, but then frowned again: "30% is also nearly 1.2 meters... The total length of the Wuzhen 8 is only a little over 10 meters. If the engine is extended so much, the layout will probably be very difficult."

Chang Haonan nodded. "From the perspective of structural strength alone, extending it by 1.2 meters is not a big problem." He signaled the technicians to switch to another airflow rendering result diagram. "But the air intake position of the waverider is closely related to the engine operating conditions. Simply extending the air intake duct forward will lead to worse operating conditions."

Ramjet engines are subject to their special working principles and are very sensitive to airflow compression capabilities. Once the power parameters change, the aerodynamic shape of the carrier aircraft often needs to be modified as well.

To this end, the two often adopt an integrated design.

Li Min, who was sitting opposite Cheng Junhong, also added: "This means that we need to readjust the design of the compression surface of the waverider, which is a lot of work."

The former heard the hidden meaning -

The other team's main goal is to verify the magnetohydrodynamic power generation technology, and they do not want to spend too much energy on improving the Wuzhen 8 itself.

Otherwise it loses its meaning.

But for him, this opportunity must be seized at all costs.

"Everyone, I actually have an alternative plan." Cheng Junhong suddenly said, "In the early stage of Plan B, because the performance of Yachong-1 did not meet the design requirements, we considered a launch plan with an elongated waverider... But later, the performance of Yachong-2 was improved, so this plan was temporarily shelved."

He quickly pulled up a set of design drawings on his computer.

The screen showed an aerodynamic shape that was significantly different from the current design.

The front waverider is longer and the air intake is positioned further forward.

"This design..." Li Min stared at the screen, "It looks very familiar."

Xing Muchun's eyes lit up: "Isn't this the concept of tandem waveriders that Academician Chang proposed before?"

Cheng Junhong nodded and admitted: "It is indeed inspired by the content of Academician Chang's report, but Academician Chang's original design is to let the front and rear parts of the waverider correspond to different speed ranges to expand the working range, while our two parts of the waverider are exactly the same, just to reduce the resistance without changing the compression characteristics. It's like using a sledgehammer to crack a nut..."

He naturally flattered the other party and continued:

"However, this solution allows the air intake to be extended from the middle of the aircraft to about 1/3 of the way forward, meeting our current requirements."

"Mr. Cheng, this solution can indeed solve the problem of the air intake position." The solution of connecting waveriders in series was very familiar to Chang Haonan, so he just took a quick look at the design drawing: "But while the total length remains unchanged, connecting waveriders in series will significantly reduce the internal volume, affecting the range and mission payload..."

Cheng Junhong is very open-minded about this issue:

"Ramjets don't need their own oxidizer and consume less fuel, so the payload and range of our Plan B are larger than those of Plan A, so it doesn't matter if we sacrifice a little."

Chang Haonan shook his head, "We can do better." He then pulled up another set of simulation results, "I suggest that we adopt a parallel waverider design."

A new aerodynamic shape appeared on the screen——

The leading edges of the two side-by-side waveriders form a wide compression surface in the middle.

This is actually one of the wide-speed range hypersonic aircraft appearance plans he has studied.

It’s just that because I will really need it in the future, I didn’t mention it when I made the report before.

"Parallel waverider?" Cheng Junhong was a little confused. "How does this solve the problem of the air intake position?"

"Look here." Chang Haonan enlarged the image. "Although the parallel waverider cannot physically increase the length of the compression surface, for a twin-engine aircraft like the WZ-8, it is equivalent to moving the air inlet position from the shoulder of a single waverider to the centerline of the belly of each of the two waveriders, which is equivalent to increasing the equivalent length of the compression surface in aerodynamics. Therefore, the position of the air inlet can also be moved forward."

There was silence in the conference room.

Of course, Chang Haonan's people were well prepared, but Cheng Junhong and his team were shocked by this bold design.

However, after careful consideration, I have to admit that the whole plan is indeed reasonable.

"Not only that," Chang Haonan continued, "the parallel waverider can also increase the internal volume and further extend the combat radius. Anyway, the drone does not need to consider the pilot's tolerance. It can fly thousands or tens of thousands of kilometers. Moreover..." He paused and looked around at everyone, "It can also accumulate certain technologies for the future."

Not many people know about hypersonic aircraft, so I can only briefly mention it without giving any detailed information.

But who cares to delve into these details?

Cheng Junhong said nothing, just nodded blindly...