Asymptotic Investigation of the Thin Viscous Shock Layer Equations in the Neighborhood of the Stagnation Point for Low Reynolds Numbers

Hypersonic three-dimensional viscous rarefied gas flow past blunt bodies is investigated in the neighborhood of the stagnation point. The problem of applicability of the model of a thin viscous shock layer to the regime of transition from continuum to free-molecular flow is considered. In [1], it was shown that at low Reynolds numbers three hypersonic flow regimes can be distinguished and one of those regimes was investigated. In the present study an asymptotic solution of the thin viscous shock layer equations is obtained for another flow regime. With decrease in the Reynolds number the heat transfer coefficient determined by the solution obtained approaches its free-molecular value and the friction coefficient approaches its free-molecular limit, provided that the shock layer thickness is small. The analytical solution is compared with a numerical solution and the results of calculations based on direct Monte Carlo simulation.