Hypersonic nonequilibrium viscous solutions over slender bodies

Abstract

An extension is undertaken of a previous numerical study in order to improve current understanding of nonequilibrium flow effects over slender bodies. Upon extension of the parametric study to encompass smaller nose radii, the downstream influence of equilibrium nonequilibrium flow is found to be much smaller than for the larger nose radii. A comparison of individual stagnation nonequilibrium heating rates demonstrates that a relative comparison of the ratios was not indicative of the actual heating reduction.