LAUSR

Abstract Hypersonic flight is becoming a common development goal of aeronautical and astronautical technology, thus mandating the requirement that hypersonic vehicle have good aerodynamic performance over a wide-speed range. Considering that a waverider is regarded as one of the most promising designs for air-breathing hypersonic vehicles, various design methods of the wide-speed-range hypersonic vehicle based on the design approach of waveriders have been proposed. This paper reviews and classifies wide-speed-range waverider design methodologies developed up until 2019, including the “combined” wide-speed range waverider, the variable Mach number waverider, the vortex lift waverider, the dual/multistage waverider, the morphing waverider, and some other wide-speed-range waverider designs. The current status of the waverider technology is summarized and future development ideas and trends are discussed.