Mach number impact on heat flux and pressure distributions of a hypersonic flow over combined gap/step geometries

A computational analysis of a hypersonic flow over a combined gap/step configuration at zero degree angle of attack, in chemical equilibrium and thermal non-equilibrium is presented in this work. Effects on pressure and heating loads due to changes on the freestream Mach number and on the step frontal-face height have been investigated by employing the Direct Simulation Monte Carlo (DSMC) method. The work focuses the attention of designers of hypersonic configurations on the fundamental parameter of surface discontinuity, which can have an important impact on even initial design. The analysis showed that heating and pressure loads increased with increasing not only the step height but also with the freestream Mach number. In addition, peak values for both loads took place at the vicinity of the step convex corner, a similar behavior observed for a forward-facing step configuration. It was also found that these loads for the gap/step configuration are slightly smaller than those for a forward-facing step.