Shock Shape Transition on Spherically Blunted Conesin Hypersonic Flows

Abstract

Spherically blunted cones are commonly utilized as re-entry or entry capsules. Depending on the cone angle, the shock shape is either dominated by the spherical nose or the conical part. In flight a transition between these two situations might occur and this can result in undesirable effects on the aerodynamic stability. To understand the shock shape transition behaviour in more detail, a systematic numerical and experimental study is ongoing. In the present article, the influence of vibrational non-equilibrium compared to frozen flow is discussed for sphere-cone configurations at zero degree angle of attack.