Effect of Nose Bluntness on Flowfield Over Slender Bodies in Hypersonic Flows

A parametric study has been conducted to determine the effects of nose bluntness on the entire flowfield over slender bodies under different hypersonic freestream conditions. The slender bodies considered are blunted cones and ogives. The analysis is carried out for air under perfect- and equilibrium-gas assumptions. The analyses range from a few simplified approaches to the solution of the complete Navier-Stokes equations. The numerical procedures are based on the solution of the Navier-Stokes and parabolized Navier-Stokes equations. Specific results obtained for spherically blunted cones and ogives demonstrate that there are significant differences in flowfield and surface quantities between sharp and blunted bodies. Depending upon the flow conditions and geometry, the differences are found to persist as far as 260 nose radii downstream.