Numerical Evaluation of Boundary Layer Transition Effects on Heating of Re-entry Vehicles

Abstract

Based on solution of the 3D Navier-Stokes solver CEVCATS, the characteristic boundary layer properties for three-dimensional hypersonic flow are numerically evaluated. By using an existing transition criteria for hypersonic boundary layer, the Re/M=constant at transition, and adding the algebraic transition model originally developed by ONERA/CERT, a semi-empirical numerical technique to predict the transition effects on the heating of reentry vehicles is established and implemented into the 3D Navier-Stokes solver CEVCATS. First validation tests at M=6 are carried out using the HALIS configuration and correlated with available experimental data. The predicted results show that the heating distributions are in good agreement with those given by experiments as far as boundary layer crossflow effects are negligible. Within the frame of engineering methods, the present technique appears very promising due to its low computational effort and easy implementation into Navier-Stokes codes.