Experimental Studies of Viscous Interaction Effects in Hypersonic Inlets and Nozzle Flow Fields (Experimentelle Untersuchung viskoser Strömungsinterferenzen in Hyperschall-Einläufen und Düsen)

Kurzfassung

Two experimental project studies concerning the aerodynamics of hypersonic airbreathing propulsion components were performed at the hypersonic wind tunnel H2K of DLR. Fundamental experiments on the inlet flow field revealed the influence of three dimensional flow structures, like Görtler vortices and a complex corner flow, on the inlet heat loads. Boundary layer bleed to reduce these heat loads was successfully implemented. Experiments on the SERN nozzle flow field gave detailed information about the boundary layer separation at the nozzle flap and contributed to the design of an optimized flap with increased nozzle performance. Further on, the influence of flow temperature effects on the thrust was shown by experiments with heated nozzle flow. Thus, the experiments gave substantial information to support the design of future hypersonic space vehicles.