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Pressure distributions for blunt body wind tunnel models at supersonic speeds and angles of attack from 0 to 15 degrees
An implicit finite-difference method has been developed to compute two-dimensional, turbulent, blunt body flows with an impinging shock wave. The full time-averaged Navier-Stokes equations are solved with algebraic eddy viscosity and turbulent Prandtl number models employed for shear stress and heat flux. The irregular-shaped bow shock is treated as a discontinuity across which the Rankine-Hugoniot equations are applied. A Type III turbulent shock interference flow field has been computed and the numerical results compare favorably with existing experimental data. In addition, comparisons are made between the present implicit code and a previous explicit code.
This is a preliminary study of the drag reduction effect and its mechanism of a blunt body of revolution with a 21-deg slant angle by using a series of base plates. Drag coefficients were measured to investigate the effect of base installation position and plate height. An effective drag reduction device was found. Through the measurement of base pressure and total pressure distribution and flow pattern display, flow characteristics and drag reduction mechanism in the vortex near the wake were investigated.
An attempt is made here to understand the basic physics of the flowfield with wake on a blunt body of revolution under hypersonic rarefied conditions. A merged layer model of flow is envisioned. Full steady-state Navier-Stokes equations in spherical polar coordinate system are computed from the surface with slip and temperature jump conditions to the free stream by the Accelerated Successive Replacement method of numerical integration. Analysis is developed for bodies of arbitrary shape, but actual computations have been carried out for a sphere and sphere-cone body. Particular attention is paid to set the limit of the onset of separation, wake closure, shear-layer impingement, formation and dissipation of the shocks in the flowfield. Validity of the results is established by comparing the present results for sphere with the corresponding results of the SOFIA code in the common region of their validity and with the experimental data.
This paper presents a nonequilibrium flow solver, implementation of the algorithm on unstructured meshes, and application to hypersonic flow past blunt bodies. Air is modeled as a mixture of five chemical species, namely O2, N2, O, NO, and N, having two temperatures namely translational and vibrational. The solution algorithm is a cell centered, point implicit upwind scheme that employs Roe's flux difference splitting technique. Implementation of this algorithm on unstructured meshes is described. The computer code is applied to solve Mach 15 flow with and without a Type IV shock interference on a cylindrical body of 2.5mm radius representing a cowl lip. Adaptively generated meshes are employed, and the meshes are refined several times until the solution exhibits detailed flow features and surface pressure and heat flux distributions. Effects of a catalytic wall on surface heat flux distribution are studied. For the Mach 15 Type IV shock interference flow, present results showed a peak heat flux of 544 MW/m2 for a fully catalytic wall and 431 MW/m(exp 2) for a noncatalytic wall. Some of the results are compared with available computational data.
An experimental program has been conducted to obtain data on the effects of surface roughness on blunt bodies at laminar, transitional, and turbulent conditions. Wind tunnel models with distributed surface roughness heights from 0.06 mm to 1.75 mm were tested and heating data were obtained using global surface thermography. Heating rates of up to 85% higher than predicted, smooth-surface turbulent levels were measured.
Radiative transfer effects in low Reynolds number or merged layer regime of hypersonic flow about axisymmetric blunt bodies, including thin shock layer theory
An experimental and analytical study of the sonic boom static pressure signatures generated by a blunt body at mach 6 has shown that finite difference computer programs can be used to give reasonable estimates of the signatures. The calculated near field static pressure signature was extrapolated to the far field by a program using the method of characteristics. A comparison of this extrapolated signature with the signature predicted by far field sonic boom theory (linearized) shows that peak overpressures are about the same, at least up to mach, but the far field theory overestimates the length of the signature.
Unsteady and steady flows compared. Report describes computer numerical study of two-dimensional, unsteady, viscous, hypersonic flows of air about blunt body with impinging shock. This kind of flow represents many practical phenomena; for example, interaction of fluctuating bow shock of hypersonic airplane with shocks of leading edge of wing or of lip of cowl at inlet to engine. Such interactions give rise to complicated, moving shock-on-shock patterns.
The present use of the Chebyshev spectral collocation method, in conjunction with shock-fitting, to solve the blunt-body problem gives attention to the boundary and the shock-acceleration equations. The crux of these procedures is the use of the characteristic compatibility relations to compute the body pressure and shock velocity. It is shown that converged solutions are obtainable without artificial smoothing, and that spectral accuracy is achieved.
Effect of radiative heat transfer in low Reynolds number hypersonic flow about blunt body
The use of a computer code for the calculation of steady, supersonic, three dimensional, inviscid flow over blunt bodies is illustrated. Input and output are given and explained for two cases: a pointed code of 20 deg half angle at 15 deg angle of attack in a free stream with M sub infinite = 7, and a cone-ogive-cylinder at 10 deg angle of attack with M sub infinite = 2.86. A source listing of the computer code is provided.
The effect of vibrational excitation and dissociation at high temperatures on the trim angle of attack of a blunt lifting body is calculated for a nonequilibrium flow regime in air using a CFD technique. The vibrational-electronic temperature and the species densities are calculated assuming the flow to be in a nonequilibrium state. The forebody flow of a two-dimensional blunt body of the shape of the Apollo Command Module at a finite angle of attack is calculated. The results show that the pitching moment around a reference point is larger and the trim angle of attack is smaller for a reacting gas than for a perfect gas. The calculated shift in the trim angle due to the real-gas effect is of the same order as that seen during the Apollo flights.
A computer code is described which may be used to calculate the steady, supersonic, three-dimensional, inviscid flow over blunt bodies. The theoretical and numerical formulation of the problem is given (shock-capturing, downstream marching), including exposition of the boundary and initial conditions. The overall flow logic of the program, its usage, accuracy, and limitations are discussed.
A computational method was developed for the fully-coupled solution of nongray, radiating gas flows with ablation product effects about blunt bodies during planetary entries. The treatment of radiation accounts for molecular band, continuum, and atomic line transitions with a detailed frequency dependence of the absorption coefficient. The ablation of the entry body was solved as part of the solution for a steady-state ablation process. The method was applied by results at typical conditions during entry to Venus. The radiative heating rates along the downstream region of the body can exceed the stagnation point value. The radiative heating to the body is attenuated in the boundary layer at the downstream region of the body and at the stagnation point of the body. A study of the radiation, inviscid flow about spherically capped, conical bodies during planetary entries shows that the nondimensional, radiative heating distributions are nonsimilar with entry conditions. Caution should be exercised in attempting to extrapolate results from known distributions to other entry conditions for which solutions have not yet been obtained.
Mass estimating relationships (MERs) are developed to predict the amount of thermal protection system (TPS) necessary for safe Earth entry for blunt-body spacecraft using simple correlations that are non-ITAR and closely match estimates from NASA's highfidelity ablation modeling tool, the Fully Implicit Ablation and Thermal Analysis Program (FIAT). These MERs provide a first order estimate for rapid feasibility studies. There are 840 different trajectories considered in this study, and each TPS MER has a peak heating limit. MERs for the vehicle forebody include the ablators Phenolic Impregnated Carbon Ablator (PICA) and Carbon Phenolic atop Advanced Carbon-Carbon. For the aftbody, the materials are Silicone Impregnated Reusable Ceramic Ablator (SIRCA), Acusil II, SLA- 561V, and LI-900. The MERs are accurate to within 14% (at one standard deviation) of FIAT prediction, and the most any MER can under predict FIAT TPS thickness is 18.7%. This work focuses on the development of these MERs, the resulting equations, model limitations, and model accuracy.
The MIT 6-inch magnetic suspension wind tunnel is used in two configurations to measure lift forces of two blunt bodies and produce free-to-pitch oscillations driven by capsule static stability and dynamic instabilities. Lift tests show that static aerodynamic data can be measured on a magnetically levitated model without moment control. Free-to- oscillate results show that magnetic suspension balance system (MSBS) can produce capsule dynamics suitable for extracting static and dynamic stability data.
A preliminary investigation has been performed to determine the influence of stagnation point water injection on the hypersonic aerodynamic forces and moments for two-dimensional blunt bodies. This investigation was performed in the Langley 20-Inch Mach 6 Air Tunnel, and represents the qualitative first phase of a study to examine the potential benefits of water injection to reduce aerodynamic drag and aero-heating. Tests with a 4-inch diameter hemisphere cylinder and a 4-inch diameter cylinder with a span 1.5 times the diameter were performed over a range of free-stream unit Reynolds number from two million to six million per ft and of angle of attack (-5 deg to 5 deg) with water and gaseous nitrogen injection at the geometric stagnation point. The momentum flux ratio, that is, the ratio of the momentum flux of the jet to that of the free-stream flow, was varied from the non-blowing value of zero up to 0.00031 by maintaining the jet momentum fixed and varying the free-stream momentum, hence Reynolds number. The effect of water injection on the aerodynamic drag coefficient for the hemisphere cylinder was observed to be negligible as the momentum flux ratio was increased to 0.00017, but decreased significantly as this ratio increased above 0.00017; a nearly 50 percent reduction in drag occurred for a factor of two increase in momentum flux ratio.