Effect of the shape of a blunt nose on the drag coefficient of a body in a hypersonic rarefied gas flow

The effect of the shape of a blunt nose of a body located in a hypersonic rarefied gas flow on the field of flow and on the aerodynamic characteristics is studied in the example of flow round ellipsoids of revolution at a zero angle of attack. The problem of the flow in the transition regime is solved on the basis of numerical analysis of the model kinetic Bhatnagar—Gross—Krook (BGK) equation for a monatomic gas. The good agreement of the results of the numerical calculations with the experimental data in a broad range of Mach numbers has shown [1, 2] that the numerical solution of the model kinetic equations is a reliable and effective means for studying flow problems. In the case when the problem is posed of determining the laws of the purely force interaction of a flow with the body, sufficiently good accuracy is given by the use of the model BGK equation.Translated from Izvestiya Akademii Nauk SSSR, Mekhanika Zhidkosti i Gaza, No. 2, pp. 190–192, March–April, 1985.