Numerical Analysis of Flow Properties about Blunt Bodies Moving at Supersonic Speeds in an Equilibrium Gas

Harvard Lomax · Mamoru Inouye

Jan 1964 · National Aeronautics and Space Administration

About this ebook

An inverse method is presented for the numerical calculation of the flow field behind the bow shock wave of a blunt-nosed body traveling at hypersonic speeds. Numerical difficulties encountered with the inverse method are categorized and discussed. Examples of instabilities introduced by particular combinations of analytical and numerical methods are presented. Certain techniques for suppressing some of these instabilities are illustrated. A one-parameter family of shock-wave shapes has been found to yield spherical-nosed, axisymmetric bodies to a high degree of accuracy. Solutions have been obtained for perfect gases over a Mach number range from 5 to 100 for specific heat ratios from 1.1 to 1.6667 and for air in thermodynamic equilibrium over a speed range from 10,000 to 45,000 ft/sec for altitudes from 100,000 to 300,000 feet. Results for the shock-wave shape and standoff distance are presented for all the solutions, and comparisons with other methods are made. For the real air results, tabulations are presented for the body data and shock-wave and sonic line coordinates. Some results for ellipsoids and paraboloids are also shown.