| Abstract: | The picture of ideal gas flow around cones at zero and low angles of attack has been well studied by using approximate methods 1], and results for high angles of attack have been obtained mainly numerically 2–7]. At high angles of attack it is sensible to examine inviscid flow only up to some generator on the downwind side of the cone at which boundary-layer separation occurs. Hence, the domain where the flow can be considered inviscid yields the main contribution to the magnitude of the aerodynamic forces and the heat fluxes 5, 9]. A picture of the supersonic flow around a pointed elliptical cone is obtained in this paper by the numerical solution of the gasdynamics equations. The whole flow domain is computed at low angles of attack while the solution at high angles is obtained in a domain bounded by some surface of three-dimensional type 10]. The dependence of the flow parameters on the angle of attack is studied when the shock is attached to the cone apex. In contrast to a circular cone, at low angles of attack two spreading lines occur on the surface of an elliptical cone, to which the maximum pressure corresponds. As the angle of attack increases, these lines come together and merge at a certain time. At high angles of attack the flow picture is analogous to a circular cone with a pressure maximum in the plane of symmetry. |
