Aerodynamic Heating Performance of Power Law Leading Edges in Rarefied Hypersonic Flow

Simulation of Sharp Leading Edge Aerothermodynamics

“…Prior theoretical and analytical studies have focused attention on different flight regimes. For example, O'Brien and Lewis [2] considered very low altitude, inviscid conditions by solving the Euler equations, while Santos and Lewis [3,4] applied the direct simulation Monte Carlo method (DSMC) [5] to study high altitude, rarefied conditions. The present work has as its goal a more comprehensive computational analysis, using various numerical methods, of the aerodynamic performance of sharp leading edges across the full range of conditions experienced in a representative flight trajectory.…”

“…In this paper, we present our initial results from this long-term study. We elect to begin our analysis at a high altitude condition due to our familiarity with this regime, and due to the availability of previous DSMC results of Santos and Lewis [3,4]. In the next section, we describe the DSMC technique and the particular code and models used in the present study.…”

Physical and computational aspects of shock waves over power-law leading edges

“…[12][13][14][15][16][17][18] Through the use of the direct simulation Monte Carlo ͑DSMC͒ method, they found that the stagnation point heating behavior for power-law leading edges with finite radius of curvature, n =1/ 2, followed that predicted for classical blunt body in that the heating rate is inversely proportional to the square root of curvature radius at the stagnation point. For those power-law leading edges with zero radii of curvature, n Ͼ 1 / 2, it was found that the stagnation point heating is not a function of the curvature radius at the vicinity of the leading edges, but agreed with the classical blunt body behavior predicted by the continuum flow far from the stagnation point.…”

“…A great deal of experimental and theoretical works [4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20] has been carried out previously on power-law forms representing blunt geometries. The major interest in these works is twofold: ͑1͒ for Refs.…”

“…4-7, the interest had gone into finding solutions to the hypersonic small disturbance form of the inviscid adiabatic-flow equations, since the equations of motion for hypersonic flow over slender bodies can be reduced to simpler form by incorporating the hypersonic slenderbody approximations; 21 ͑2͒ for Refs. [8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20], the interest has gone into considering the power-law shape as possible candidate for blunting geometries of hypersonic leading edges, such as hypersonic waverider vehicles.…”