Drag on Conical and Ogive Missile Nose Cones for Various Speed Regimes
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.55927/ijis.v5i6.47Keywords:
Conical, Drag Coefficient, Nose Cone, Ogive, Shock WaveAbstract
Drag force significantly affects the efficiency and aerodynamic performance of missiles. The shock wave generated ahead of the nose cone is the primary source of wave drag, which substantially influences the overall drag. This study focuses on the drag coefficient of conical and ogive nose cones across various speed regimes. The method employed is a narrative literature review, synthesizing findings from relevant scientific sources. Based on the literature synthesis, it was found that the ogive shape generally outperforms the conical shape in subsonic and transonic regimes due to its smoother geometric profile. In the supersonic regime, however, the relative performance between the conical and ogive shapes is not absolute but is highly dependent on the fineness ratio and other geometric parameters. A conical shape with a high fineness ratio can significantly reduce wave drag, while under certain geometric conditions, the ogive still exhibits a lower drag coefficient. Consequently, the selection of a nose cone shape must simultaneously consider the operational speed regime and the fineness ratio to achieve optimal aerodynamic efficiency
References
Alekhya, N., & Manthena, S. (2018). Drag prediction on the conical and ogival shaped noses of aerodynamic bodies. IOP Conference Series: Materials Science and Engineering, 455, 012021. https://doi.org/10.1088/1757-899X/455/1/012021
Anderson, J. D. (2006). Hypersonic and high temperature gas dynamics (second edi). American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics.
Balaji, G., Sree, K. N., Reddy, E. V., Sumanth, N., Sathish, S., & Madhanraj, V. (2022). Numerical investigation of flow over a hemispherical missile nose cone configuration in subsonic speed. Materials Today: Proceedings, 68(5), 1447–1454. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.matpr.2022.07.004
Chang, F., Chien, Y., & Weng, H. C. (2023). Effect of fineness ratio on hypersonic thermal flow past a spherically blunted tangent-ogive nose cone. Journal of the Chinese Society of Mechanical Engineers, 44(5), 399–411.
Eghlima, Z., & Mansour, K. (2016). Effect of nose shape on the shock standoff distance at nearsonic flows. Thermophysics and Aeromechanics, 23, 499–512. https://doi.org/1 0.1 1 34/S086986431 604003X
Goucem, M., & Khiri, R. (2024). A comparative analysis of the aerodynamic performance of supersonic missiles with conical and ogive nose shapes. Aviation, 28(3), 188–196. https://doi.org/10.3846/aviation.2024.22154
Iyer, A. R., & Pant, A. (2020). A review on nose cone designs for different flight regimes. International Research Journal of Engineering and Technology (IRJET) e-ISSN:, 07(09), 3546–3554.
Kim, B. K., & Al-Obaidi, A. S. M. (2023). Investigation of the effect of nose shape and geometry at supersonic speeds for missile performance optimisation. Journal of Physics: Conference Series PAPER, 2523, 012010. https://doi.org/10.1088/1742-6596/2523/1/012010
Kumar, G., & Honguntikar, P. V. (2015). CFD analysis of transonic flow over the nose cone of aerial vehicle. IJSRD - International Journal for Scientific Research & Development|, 3(07), 458–462.
Kumar, P. K. (2020). Analysis of nose cone of missile. International Journal of Engineering Research and Applications, 10(7), 24–35. https://doi.org/10.9790/9622-1007032435
Liu, C., Ji, C., & Zhao, L. (2024). Wall pressure fluctuations on a cone-cylinder model at transonic regime. In: Fu, S. (Eds) 2023 Asia-Pacific International Symposium on Aerospace Technology (APISAT 2023) Proceedings. APISAT 2023., 1051. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-97-4010- 9_150
Nath, B., Srinivasan, N., Murugan, K. N., Arunkumar, T., Gireesh, Y., Suryanarayana, G. K., & Prasath, M. (2024). Alleviation of SWBLI over the payload of a launch vehicle by change of nose shape. Aerospace Science and Technology, 151(5), 109265. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ast.2024.109265
Partington, R., & Baker, T. J. (1982). The effect of nose blunting on the wave drag of ogive forebodies. Aeronautical Quarterly, 33(3), 258–270. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0001925900009458
Perkins, E. W., & Jorgensen, L. H. (1952). Investigation of the drag of various axially symmetric nose shapes of fineness ratio 3 for Mach numbers from 1.24 to 3.67.
Stoney, W. E. (1957). Transonic drag measurements of eight body-nose shapes.
Şumnu, A., Orkun, İ. H., & Öğücü, G. (2020). Aerodynamic shape optimization of a missile using a multiobjective genetic algorithm. International Journal of Aerospace Engineering. https://doi.org/10.1155/2020/1528435
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2026 Chindy Eka Putri, Romie Oktovianus Bura, Lalu Aan Sasaka Akbar

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.



















