Subsonic high-angle-of-attack aerodynamic characteristics of a cone and cylinder with triangular cross sections and a cone with a square cross section

Experiments were conducted in the 12-Foot Pressure Wind Tunnel at Ames Research Center on three models with noncircular cross sections: a cone having a square cross section with rounded corners and a cone and cylinder with triangular cross sections and rounded vertices. The cones were tested with both sharp and blunt noses. Surface pressures and force and moment measurements were obtained over an angle of attack range from 30 deg to 90 deg and selected oil-flow experiments were conducted to visualize surface flow patterns. Unit Reynolds numbers ranged from 0.8x1,000,000/m to 13.0x1,000,000/m at a Mach number of 0.25, except for a few low-Reynolds-number runs at a Mach number of 0.17. Pressure data, as well as force data and oil-flow photographs, reveal that the three dimensional flow structure at angles of attack up to 75 deg is very complex and is highly dependent on nose bluntness and Reynolds number. For angles of attack from 75 deg to 90 deg the sectional aerodynamic characteristics are similar to those of a two dimensional cylinder with the same cross section.