An Experimental Investigation of Hypersonic Flow over Blunt Nosed Cones at a Mach Number of 5.8

Citation

O'Bryant, William Theral (1956) An Experimental Investigation of Hypersonic Flow over Blunt Nosed Cones at a Mach Number of 5.8. Engineer's thesis, California Institute of Technology. doi:10.7907/923A-XB12. https://resolver.caltech.edu/CaltechETD:etd-06182004-111807

Abstract

NOTE: Text or symbols not renderable in plain ASCII are indicated by [...]. Abstract is included in .pdf document. Shock shapes were observed and static pressures were measured on spherically-blunted cones at a nominal Mach number of 5.8 over a range of Reynolds numbers per inch from 97,000 to 238,000 for angles of yaw from 0[degrees] to 8[degrees]. Six combinations of the bluntness ratios 0.4, 0.8, and 1.064 with the cone half angles 10[degrees], 20[degrees], and 40[degrees] were used in determining the significant parameters governing pressure distribution. The pressure distribution on the spherical nose for both yawed and unyawed bodies is predicted quite accurately by the modified Newtonian theory given by [...], where [...] is the angle between the normal to a surface element and the flow direction ahead of the bow shock. On the nose-cone junction and the conical afterbody, cone half angle was found to be the significant parameter in determining the length of the transition zone. For a cone half-angle of 40[degrees], a pressure minimum exists on the skirt immediately downstream of the nose-cone junction, but this pressure minimum is located far downstream when the half-angle is 20[degrees]. The tangent cone concept at angles of yaw is useful in predicting the downstream movement of the pressure minimum. Shock detachment distance between bow shock and body surface on the axis varies linearly with nose radius. Drag coefficients for bodies at zero yaw compare very closely with those obtained by integrating the modified Newtonian approximation, except at large half-angles and low bluntnesses where drag approaches that given by the Taylor-Maccoll theory for sharp cones.

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