Publications

A closely coupled computational and experimental aerodynamics research program was conducted on a hypersonic vehicle configuration at Mach 8. Aerodynamic force and moment measurements and flow visualization results were obtained in the Sandia National Laboratories hypersonic wind tunnel for laminar boundary layer conditions. Parabolized and iterative Navier-Stokes simulations were used to predict flow fields and forces and moments on the hypersonic configuration. The basic vehicle configuration is a spherically blunted 10{degrees} cone with a slice parallel with the axis of the vehicle. On the slice portion of the vehicle, a flap can be attached so that deflection angles of 10{degrees}, 20{degrees}, and 30{degrees} can be obtained. Comparisons are made between experimental and computational results to evaluate quality of each and to identify areas where improvements are needed. This extensive set of high-quality experimental force and moment measurements is recommended for use in the calibration and validation of computational aerodynamics codes. 22 refs.

This paper seeks to improve the synergism between computational aerodynamics and wind tunnel experimentation. In this paper, experimental and computational results are presented for a hypersonic vehicle configuration at Mach 8. Comparisons are made between experimental and computational results in order to improve the accuracy of both approaches. The basic vehicle configuration is a spherically blunted cone with a slice parallel with the axis of the vehicle. The half-angle of the cone is 10 deg. and the ratio of spherical nose radius to base radius in 10%. Onto the slice portion of the vehicle can be attached flaps with three different deflection angles; 10, 20, and 30 deg. All of the experimental results were obtained in the Sandia Mach 8 long duration, blow-down, hypersonic wind tunnel. Flow visualization results include surface oil flow, spark schlieren, and liquid crystal photographs and video. The liquid crystals were used as an aid in verifying that a laminar boundary layer existed over the entire body. An extensive uncertainty analysis was conducted to estimate quantitatively the accuracy of the measurement. Computational aerodynamic force and moment predictions are compared with the wind tunnel data. The Sandia Parabolized Navier-Stokes code is used to generate solutions for the sliced vehicle (no flap) and partial solutions for the flapped vehicle. For the geometry with the flap, an axially separated flow occurs and a time iterative Navier-Stokes code is used to provide comparisons with the data. This paper presents a portion of the results given in earlier works and also discusses new experimental results with this configuration.