Pertanika J. Sci. & Technol. 30 (2): 1409 - 1419 (2022) ISSN: 0128-7680 e-ISSN: 2231-8526 Journal homepage: http://www.pertanika.upm.edu.my/ © Universiti Putra Malaysia Press SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY Article history: Received: 29 June 2021 Accepted: 18 August 2021 Published: 28 March 2022 ARTICLE INFO DOI: https://doi.org/10.47836/pjst.30.2.31 E-mail addresses: hussein@uitm.edu.my (Ahmad Hussein Abdul Hamid) szuraidah@uitm.edu.my (Zuraidah Salleh) ambokizwan@gmail.com (Ambok Muhammad Izwan Ambok Suloh) juani@mtcgroup.com.my (Mohammad Juani Sujana) shahar@mtcgroup.com.my (Mohd Shahar Saad) ismail@mtcgroup.com.my (Mohd Ismail Khamis) * Corresponding author Evaluation of a Newly Designed Aerodisk for Cloud Seeding Prototype Rocket Drag Reduction Ahmad Hussein Abdul Hamid 1 , Zuraidah Salleh 1 *, Ambok Muhammad Izwan Ambok Suloh 1 , Mohammad Juani Sujana 2 , Mohd Shahar Saad 2 and Mohd Ismail Khamis 2 1 High Energy Material Research Laboratory (HEMREL), School of Mechanical Engineering, College of Engineering, Universiti Teknologi MARA, 40450 UiTM, Shah Alam, Selangor, Malaysia 2 MTC Defense Sdn Bhd, Seksyen U8 Bukit Jelutong, 40150 Shah Alam, Selangor, Malaysia ABSTRACT The present work provides a detailed study of a cloud seeding prototype rocket’s nose cone drag reduction strategy by adopting the Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) simulation method for solving compressible fow problems. Two diferent nose cone aerodisk models are simulated using OpenFOAM software: two hemisphere aerodisk and two spherically blunted tangent ogive aerodisk. The results are compared against a baseline case of the blunt nose cone. The solver used is frst validated against published experimental data. It is observed that both aerodisk models signifcantly reduce the drag coefcient of the blunt nose cone with two spherically blunted tangent ogive aerodisk providing the lowest drag coefcient. Detailed comparison of the fow visualization in terms of temperature distribution and shock wave formation is also reported to determine its infuence on aerodynamic drag. The present study generally reveals that two spherically blunted tangent ogive aerodisk is preferred over two hemisphere aerodisk for achieving greater drag reductions and lower heat load to the cloud seeding prototype rocket. Keywords: Aerodisk, drag coefficient, nose cone, rocket, supersonic INTRODUCTION For the past few decades, haze has aficted Malaysia almost every year (Latif et al., 2018). As a result, the Malaysian government has to bear expensive costs to carry out cloud seeding processes once the Air Pollutant Index reaches a dangerous level (Haque, 2019). Seeding cloud using fare-carrying