Heat Transfer at the Nose of a High-Speed Missile

Abstract

SummaryThe heat loads during high-speed missile flight have to be considered in the design process by selecting appropriate geometries, structures and materials. To model these loads, especially at the nose, it is necessary to know the heat flux data in dependence of the time-dependent flow conditions. Therefore, great interest is focused on heat flux data gained from ISL shock tunnel experiments. These were done for Mach number between 3.5 and 10 for flight altitude conditions ranging from sea level up to 60 km. On the nose surface of a blunt and a sharp cone heat fluxes were measured with special, fast-reacting thin film temperature gauges. The results are compared with theoretical calculations based on the classical boundary layer theory for the laminar as well as for the turbulent boundary layer formation at a conical missile nose. Best agreement exists between the heat fluxes measured and the analytical solutions for a sharp cone.