Preliminary Design and Analysis of a Dual Throat Fluidic Thrust Vectoring Nozzle for Supersonic Aerospace Application

The Dual Throat Nozzle (DTN) is a unique nozzle configuration that enables fluidic thrust vectoring (FTV), improving aircraft maneuverability while reducing the mechanical complexity of traditional vectoring systems. In this study, a two-dimensional DTN was developed based on a validated NASA Langley model, incorporating a newly designed plenum geometry guided by area expansion ratio principles. Numerical simulations were carried out in ANSYS Fluent using a density-based, steady-state solver with the SST k–ω turbulence model to capture key compressible flow features such as shock waves, flow separation, and jet deflection. Secondary injection rates were determined using choked-flow relations, and a 12-case parametric study was conducted to analyze the effects of Nozzle Pressure Ratio (NPR), injection rate, and injection angle on thrust deflection and efficiency. The simulation results at NPR = 4 with 3% injection showed strong agreement with NASA experimental data, validating the computational setup. It was observed that higher NPR values reduced jet deflection but improved overall thrust efficiency, with the best performance achieved at NPR = 2 and a 150° injection angle. The findings provide valuable insight into optimizing DTN design parameters for lightweight, efficient fluidic thrust vectoring systems suited to future supersonic applications.