Hypersonic aerothermodynamics status report

Abstract

This survey paper gives an overview of NASA's Aerothermodynamics program. The purpose is to present the elements of, example results from, and projected technology needs for hypersonic fluid and thermal physics. The NASA program is focused on improving the fundamental understanding of aerodynamic and aerothermodynamic flow phenomena over hypersonic vehicles operating in the continuum, transitional, and free molecule flow regime. Vehicle design capabilities, computational fluid dynamics, computational chemistry, turbulence modeling, aerothermal loading, Shuttle Orbiter flight data analysis, and aerothermal facilities are discussed.