Hypersonic non-equilibrium flow over spherically blunted cone capsules

Abstract

The hypersonic flow over a spherically blunt cone exhibits two regimes separated by an almost discontinuous change of the sonic line location. We call these two regimes cone and sphere behavior. In flight a transition between these two behaviors might occur and this can result in undesirable effects on the aerodynamic stability. To understand the transition behavior in more detail, a systematic numerical and experimental study is performed in the High Enthalpy Shock Tunnel Göttingen of the German Aerospace Center. This paper will focus on the experimental technique of wind tunnel free flight testing of rigid bodies in combination with the reconstruction of their free movement and the automatic determination of the shock stand of distance.