BLUNTNESS AND VISCOUS-INTERACTION EFFECTS ON SLENDER BODIES AT HYPERSONIC SPEEDS,
Abstract
This Memorandum is concerned with the aerodynamic design and performance of slender vehicles operating in high-altitude, high-velocity environments. A brief description of the pertinent regimes of flight is presented, and arguments are advanced to show that at high altitudes, the leading-edge thickness is not dictated by convective and radiative heat-transfer rates. This conclusion is based on the fact that the use of advanced surface materials will allow the heat transferred to the nose to be reradiated and conducted along the surface to regions of less intense heating while maintaining good thermal-insulation characteristics in a direction normal to the body surface. The flight regimes where leading-edge bluntness and hypersonic viscous interaction are important are described, and a summary of the theoretical approaches to these two limiting cases is given. A method of computing skin friction, heat transfer, and surface pressure in the viscous-interaction regime is outlined. Sample calculations are presented which indicate that viscous interaction may significantly increase the lift and drag of slender vehicles. (Author)
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Sep 01, 1964
- Accession Number
- AD0605249
Entities
People
- C. F. Dewey Jr.
Organizations
- RAND Corporation