Abstract To solve the problems of high cost, high risk, and difficulty in flight performance evaluation of hypersonic vehicle flight tests, a multi-physics field virtual flight method was proposed in this study. By establishing a high-fidelity multi-physics field model to simulate the flight test, fast and accurate flight performance analysis was acquired. Considering the coupling effects between aerodynamics, structure, control, and trajectory disciplines, a loosely coupled method was adopted to build a dynamic model of an elastic hypersonic vehicle and conduct virtual flight simulations. The piston theory was used to calculate unsteady aerodynamic loads, and the modal superposition method was employed to calculate structural dynamic responses. A multi-physics field virtual flight simulation process was constructed by integrating time-varying aerodynamic loads and structural vibration deformations into a six-degree-of-freedom flight dynamics model. A virtual flight simulation study was conducted on a three-dimensional hypersonic vehicle, analyzing the influence of structural dynamic deformation and unsteady aerodynamic dynamic response on its flight trajectory and control system. The results show that the virtual flight model can quickly and accurately obtain the dynamic, controlled, and load characteristics of the vehicle during flight, providing an efficient and low-cost solution for verifying the flight performance in hypersonic vehicle design.
2024, Vol. 7 
