Correlation of nosetip boundary-layer transition data measured in ballistics-range experiments
Preablated nosetips of various carbonaceous materials were tested in a ballistics range. Surface-temperature contours, measured with image-converter cameras, were used to define boundary-layer transition-front contours. Measurements of surface roughness, surface temperature, average transition-front location, and freestream environment were combined with calculations of nosetip flowfields, and with calculations of laminar boundary-layer development in these flowfields, to transform all data into various dimensionless parameters. These parameters were defined by previous attempts to correlate existing wind-tunnel data for transition on rough/blunt bodies. Of the available correlating techniques, only one, based on the concept of a constant (critical) roughness Reynolds number for transition, was found to successfully describe both the wind-tunnel and ballistics-range data, thereby validating the extrapolation of this concept to actual reentry-vehicle materials and environments.
- Research Organization:
- Sandia Labs., Albuquerque, NM (USA)
- DOE Contract Number:
- EY-76-C-04-0789
- OSTI ID:
- 5853873
- Report Number(s):
- SAND-79-0649C; CONF-800104-1
- Resource Relation:
- Conference: 18. AIAA aerospace sciences meeting, Pasadena, CA, USA, 14 Jan 1980
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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