On the shape of bodies ablating in a supersonic gas stream

When objects move at a high velocity in a dense medium, their front surfaces undergo intense heating. There can then be a strong interaction between the oncoming flow and the surface of the body in which the body is not merely subject to the thermal and force effect of the stream but also significantly changes the flow field itself due to the intense blowing of ablation products from its surface and the change in the geometry of the front surface. Experimental and numerical investigations into the various regimes of strong interaction have established how stable shapes are adopted by bodies ablating in a supersonic gas stream.Translated from Izvestiya Akademii Nauk SSSR, Mekhanika Zhidkosti i Gaza, No. 1, pp. 18–21, January–February, 1981.