Book Description

Inviscid and viscous (laminar boundary layer) flow-field calculations under perfect gas hypersonic wind tunnel and equilibrium real gas flight conditions are presented for the windward centerline of the Rockwell International 139 Space Shuttle Orbiter at 30 deg angle of attack. Correlation parameters for laminar boundary-layer edge quantities and surface heat transfer are developed which properly account for entropy-layer-swallowing effects under both real and perfect gas conditions. A cursory examination of chemical nonequilibrium effects on the inviscid flow field based on oblique shock relaxation is presented. Some implications of the proposed correlation parameters on boundary-layer transition are discussed.