The Hypersonic International Flight Research and Experimentation (HIFiRE) 5 flight experiment by Air Force Research Laboratories and Australian Defense Science and Technology Organization is designed to provide in-flight boundary-layer transition data for a canonical 3D configuration at hypersonic Mach numbers. This paper outlines the progress, to date, on boundary layer stability analysis for the HIFiRE-5 flight configuration, as well as for selected test conditions from the wind tunnel experiments supporting the flight test. At flow conditions corresponding to the end of the test window, rather large values of linear amplification factor are predicted for both second mode (N>40) and crossflow (N>20) instabilities, strongly supporting the feasibility of first in-flight measurements of natural transition on a fully three-dimensional hypersonic configuration. Additional results highlight the rich mixture of instability mechanisms relevant to a large segment of the flight trajectory, as well as the effects of angle of attack and yaw angle on the predicted transition fronts for ground facility experiments at Mach 6. Backgroundue to its influence on surface heat transfer, skin-friction drag, and flow-separation characteristics, prediction of boundary layer transition constitutes an important aspect of hypersonic vehicle design. Laminar to turbulent transition over realistic vehicle surfaces is often caused by surface roughness of sufficiently large magnitude. However, when the surface is relatively smooth, the transition process is initiated by linear instabilities of the laminar boundary layer. Typically, the second (or Mack) mode instability dominates transition in 2D and axisymmetric boundary layers with hypersonic edge Mach numbers, although centrifugal (i.e., Gortler) instabilities may also come into play when the surface has concave curvature along the streamwise direction. Three-dimensional boundary layers involve the additional mechanisms of stationary and traveling modes of crossflow instability and, depending on the geometric configuration, may include the attachment line instability as well [1].Regardless of the speed regime, linear stability correlations have been quite successful in predicting the onset of transition when a single instability mechanism dominates the transition process [2]. Mixed mode transition has been more challenging to predict because of possible nonlinear interactions between the relevant modes of instability. To account for the effect of such interactions, an ad hoc composite metric based on the linear amplification factors for the different instability mechanisms has sometimes been used for transition correlation (see, for instance, [3]). Recent work on crossflow instability in low-speed boundary layers [4] has exposed additional shortcomings in applying purely linear predictive models to crossflow dominated transition in 3D boundary layers.The simplest canonical configuration that includes the necessary elements for studying both mixed mode transition and crossflow evolu...
In support of the Boundary Layer Transition Flight Experiment (BLT FE) Project, a manufactured protuberance tile was installed on the port wing of Space Shuttle Orbiter Discovery for the flights of STS-119 and STS -128. Additional instrumentation was also installed in order to obtain more spatially resolved measurements downstream of the protuberance. This paper provides an overview of the BLT FE Project, including the project history, organizations involved, and motivations for the flight experiment. Significant efforts were made to place the protuberance at an appropriate location on the Orbiter and to design the protuberance to withstand the expected environments. Efforts were also extended to understand the as-fabricated shape of the protuberance and the thermal protection system tile configuration surrounding the protuberance. A high-level overview of the in-situ flight data is presented, along with a summary of the comparisons between pre-and post-flight analysis predictions and flight data. Comparisons show that predictions for boundary layer transition onset time closely match the flight data, while predicted temperatures were significantly higher than observed flight temperatures.
An overview is provided of the experimental wind tunnel program conducted at the NASA Langley Research Center Aerothermodynamics Laboratory in support of an agency-wide effort to prepare the Shuttle Orbiter for Return-to-Flight. The effect of an isolated protuberance and an isolated rectangular cavity on hypersonic boundary layer transition onset on the windward surface of the Shuttle Orbiter has been experimentally characterized. These experimental studies were initiated to provide a protuberance and cavity effects database for developing hypersonic transition criteria to support on-orbit disposition of thermal protection system damage or repair. In addition, a synergistic experimental investigation was undertaken to assess the impact of an isolated mass-flow entrainment source (simulating pyrolysis/outgassing from a proposed tile repair material) on boundary layer transition. A brief review of the relevant literature regarding hypersonic boundary layer transition induced from cavities and localized mass addition from ablation is presented. Boundary layer transition results were obtained using 0.0075-scale Orbiter models with simulated tile damage (rectangular cavities) of varying length, width, and depth and simulated tile damage or repair (protuberances) of varying height. Cavity and mass addition effects were assessed at a fixed location (x/L = 0.3) along the model centerline in a region of near zero pressure gradient. Cavity length-to-depth ratio was systematically varied from 2.5 to 17.7 and length-to-width ratio of 1 to 8.5. Cavity depth-to-local boundary layer thickness ranged from 0.5 to 4.8. Protuberances were located at several sites along the centerline and port/starboard attachment lines along the chine and wing leading edge. Protuberance height-to-boundary layer thickness was varied from approximately 0.2 to 1.1. Global heat transfer images and heating distributions of the Orbiter windward surface using phosphor thermography were used to infer the state of the boundary layer (laminar, transitional, or turbulent). Test parametrics include angles-of-attack of 30 deg and 40 deg, sideslip angle of 0 deg, freestream Reynolds numbers from 0.02x10 6 to 7.3x10 6 per foot, edge-to-wall temperature ratio from 0.4 to 0.8, and normal shock density ratios of approximately 5.3, 6.0, and 12 in Mach 6 air, Mach 10 air, and Mach 6 CF 4 , respectively. Testing to simulate the effects of ablation from a proposed tile repair concept indicated that transition was not a concern. The experimental protuberance and cavity databases highlighted in this report were used to formulate boundary layer transition correlations that were an integral part of an analytical process to disposition observed Orbiter TPS damage during STS-114.
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