A FREE FLIGHT INVESTIGATION OF THE FEASIBILITY OF HIGH REYNOLDS NUMBER SUPERSONIC LAMINAR BOUNDARY LAYERS,
Abstract
A modified V-2 was fired 26 October 1950, at White Sands Proving Ground to determine whether, under favorable conditions, laminar flow at high Reynolds Numbers at supersonic speeds was possible. The test area was the surface of a special polished 20 deg included angle conical nose more than eight feet long, which replaced the standard V-2 warhead. The rocket reached M = 3 at 25,000 feet in approximately horizontal flight before it exploded from unknown causes. With the large thermal inertial of the .18-inch thick skin, the skin temperature lagged well behind the boundary layer recovery temperature. Consequently, during most of the supersonic portion of the flight, the heat transfer from the air to the surface was greater than that required to damp small boundary layer oscillations according to Lees' theory. Measurements of the nose skin temperature and of total pressures in the boundary layer were telemetered in order to establish the laminar or turbulent state of the boundary layer. The pressure and temperature data indicate that the cone boundary layer was laminar at an equivalent flat plate Reynolds Number of 5 x 10 to the 7th power which was the largest Reynolds Number obtained on the cone. (Author)
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Jun 01, 1952
- Accession Number
- AD0801731
Entities
People
- Joseph Sternberg
Organizations
- Ballistic Research Laboratory