APPROXIMATE METHOD FOR CALCULATING HEATING RATES ON 3-DIMENSIONAL VEHICLES

An approximate method for calculating heating rates on three-dimensional vehicles at angle of attack is presented. The method is based on the axisymmetric analog for three-dimensional boundary layers and uses a generalized body-fitted coordinate system. Edge conditions for the boundary-layer solution are obtained from an inviscid flowfield solution, and because of the coordinate system used, the method is applicable to any blunt body geometry for which a inviscid flowfield solution can be obtained. The method is validated by comparing with experimental heating data and with thin-layer Navier-Stokes calculations on the Shuttle Orbiter at both wind-tunnel and flight conditions and with thin-layer Navier-Stokes calculations on the HL-20 at wind-tunnel conditions.