Extrapolation-to-flight of aerodynamic heating measurements and determination of in-flight radiation-equilibrium surface temperature in hypersonic/high enthalpy flow conditions

The previously demonstrated success of the reference enthalpy concept in heat transfer prediction at hypersonic flow conditions is utilized herein to propose a cost-effective methodology for extrapolation-to-flight of Stanton number measurements (or baseline computational results), and the determination of radiation-equilibrium surface temperatures that develop on actual vehicle surfaces during hypersonic/high enthalpy flight conditions. The methodology couples the (analytical) generalized reference enthalpy solution with Euler computations (providing input data along the edge of thin boundary layers) and is, therefore, significantly cheaper and more efficient than the execution of full Navier–Stokes computations that are presently incorporated, particularly so in the thermo-chemically active high enthalpy flow regime. The validity of the proposed methodology is demonstrated in a first step by means of two-dimensional test cases, whereby extrapolated data accuracy is better than 20%.

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