Aerothermodynamic Calculations on X-34 at Mach 6 Wind Tunnel Conditions

Abstract

The effects of Reynolds number and turbulence on surface heat-transfer rates are numerically investigated for a 0.015 scale X-34 vehicle at wind tunnel conditions. Laminar heating rates, non-dimensionalized by Fay-Riddell stagnation heating, do not change appreciably with an order of magnitude variation in Reynolds number. Modeling a turbulent versus laminar boundary layer at the same Reynolds number increases the windside heating by a factor of four, portions on the leeside by a factor of two, and causes a 30 percent increase in wing leading edge heating. A discrepancy between laminar and turbulent heating trends on the windside centerline is explained by the presence of attached windside vortices in the laminar solutions, structures that are inhibited by the turbulence modeling