Aerothermal Performance Constraints for Hypervelocity Small Radius Unswept Leading Edges and Nosetips

Small radius leading edges and nosetips were utilized to minimize wave drag in early hypervelocity vehicle concepts until further analysis demonstrated that extreme aerothermodynamic heating would cause severe ablation or blunting of the available thermal protection system materials. Recent studies indicate that ultrahigh temperature ceramic (UHTC) materials are shape stable at temperatures approaching 3033 K and will be available for use as sharp UHTC leading edge components in the near future. Aerothermal performance constraints for sharp components made from these materials are presented in this work to demonstrate the effects of convective blocking, surface catalycity, surface emissivity, and rarefied flow effects on steady state operation at altitudes from sea level to 90 km. These components are capable of steady state operation at velocities up to 7.9 km/s at attitudes near 90 km.

[1]  Christopher J. Riley,et al.  Engineering code for hypersonic vehicle optimization , 1994 .

[2]  M. Tauber,et al.  Performance comparisons of maneuvering vehicles returning from orbit , 1988 .

[3]  Jolen Flores,et al.  Computational fluid dynamics nose-to-tail capability - Hypersonic unsteady Navier-Stokes code validation , 1990 .

[4]  K. J. Weilmuenster,et al.  Simplified curve fits for the thermodynamic properties of equilibrium air , 1986 .

[5]  F. R. Riddell,et al.  Theory of Stagnation Point Heat Transfer in Dissociated Air , 1958 .

[6]  G. Carlomagno,et al.  Downward-deployed tethered platforms for high enthalpy aerothermodynamic research , 1988 .

[7]  G. R. Ingeri.  Nonequilibrium hypersonic stagnation flow with arbitrary surface catalycity including low reynolds number effects , 1966 .

[8]  R. Goulard,et al.  On Catalytic Recombination Rates in Hypersonic Stagnation Heat Transfer , 1958 .

[9]  Henry M. Cheng,et al.  The blunt-body problem in hypersonic flow at low Reynolds number , 1963 .

[10]  W. E. Moeckel,et al.  Composition and thermodynamic properties of air in chemical equilibrium , 1958 .

[11]  M. L. Hill.  Materials for small radius leading edges for hypersonic vehicles. , 1967 .

[12]  Michael E. Tauber,et al.  A review of high-speed, convective, heat-transfer computation methods , 1989 .

[13]  L. Chauvin,et al.  Boundary-Layer-Transition and Heat-Transfer Measurements from Flight Tests of Blunt and Sharp 50 Degree Cones at Mach Numbers from 1.7 to 4.7 , 1957 .

[14]  P. M. Chung.  Hypersonic Viscous Shock Layer of Nonequilibrium Dissociating Gas , 1961 .

[15]  Ronald B. Pope,et al.  Stagnation-point convective heat transfer in frozen boundary layers. , 1968 .

[16]  K. Havey.  Entry Vehicle Performance in Low-Heat-Load Trajectories , 1982 .

[17]  R. Probstein.  Shock Wave and Flow Field Development in Hypersonic Re-Entry , 1961 .

[18]  J. Anderson,et al.  Hypersonic and High-Temperature Gas Dynamics , 2019 .

[19]  H Julian Allen,et al.  A Study of the Motion and Aerodynamic Heating of Missiles Entering the Earth's Atmosphere at High Supersonic Speeds , 1957 .