Student Name: Emily G. Herrmann

Advisor: Dr. Dimitri Mavris

Milestone: PhD Thesis Proposal

Degree Program: Aerospace Engineering

Title: A Methodology for the Parametric Assessment of Maneuverability in Hypersonic Glide Vehicle Design

Abstract: Hypersonic Glide Vehicles (HGVs) rely on a combination of extreme speed and extended endo-atmospheric maneuverability to ensure survivability in contested environments. However, the hypersonic flight regime is characterized by extreme aerothermal phenomena that require higher-fidelity models than traditional conceptual design, and those models must be coupled in order to properly capture unexpected trends in the design space. To capture these effects, hypersonic glide vehicle conceptual design currently relies on trajectory-centric multi-disciplinary design, analysis, and optimization (MDAO) frameworks. These frameworks predominantly focus on optimizing a vehicle and its trajectory simultaneously to maximize nominal performance, such as maximum range. Consequently, despite being a defining characteristic of HGVs, maneuverability is largely treated as a rigid constraint or a residual byproduct of other design decisions, rather than a primary design driver. The vehicle-mission-trajectory tradespace is massive and tightly coupled, and no method currently exists to enable designers to explore it while explicitly accounting for the physical cost of maneuvering. This leaves designers without visibility into the full impact of their design decisions on vehicle survivability until late in the development process. This research identifies four primary gaps in the current state of the art: the absence of an energy-based maneuver cost framework, the lack of distinction between routing (macro) and evasive (micro) maneuver costs, the omission of path-dependent maneuver cost accumulation, and the need for a scenario-agnostic method to abstract threats. Together, these gaps render the fundamental trade between nominal range and latent maneuver capacity invisible to conceptual designers. To bridge these gaps, this research proposes an energy-based parametric conceptual design methodology. The proposed methodology abstracts routing and evasion as deterministic energy and thermal ``debts" that are sequentially subtracted from the booster-delivered initial energy state. The result is a Parametric Sandbox: a connected set of physics-grounded views of the vehicle-mission-trajectory tradespace that makes the range-versus-maneuverability trade explicit and interactive. This proposal outlines the experiments designed to validate the methodology's aerothermal foundation, the macro- and micro-debt formulations, and the path-dependent integration approach, ultimately culminating in a demonstration of the Parametric Sandbox for a representative HGV use case. 

Date and time: 2026-03-24, 8am

Location: Weber CoVE

Committee:
Dr. Dimitri Mavris (advisor), School of Aerospace Engineering
Dr. Daniel Schrage, School of Aerospace Engineering
Dr. Jenna Jordan, School of International Affairs
Dr. Adam Cox, School of Aerospace Engineering
Major Dr. Mark Bateman, Air Force Institute of Technology
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