All possible continuum (hydrodynamic) models in the case of two-dimensional problems of supersonic and hypersonic flows around blunt bodies in the two-layer model (a viscous shock layer and shock-wave structure) over the whole range of Reynolds numbers, Re, from low values (free molecular and transitional flow conditions) up to high values (flow conditions with a thin leading shock wave, a boundary layer and an external inviscid flow in the shock layer) are obtained from the Navier-Stokes equations using an asymptotic analysis. In the case of low Reynolds numbers, the shock layer is considered but the structure of the shock wave is ignored. Together with the well-known models (a boundary layer, a viscous shock layer, a thin viscous shock layer, parabolized Navier-Stokes equations (the single-layer model) for high, moderate and low Re numbers, respectively), a new hydrodynamic model, which follows from the Navier-Stokes equations and reduces to the solution of the simplified ("local") Stokes equations in a shock layer with vanishing inertial and pressure forces and boundary conditions on the unspecified free boundary (the shock wave) is found at Reynolds numbers, and a density ratio, k, up to and immediately after the leading shock wave, which tend to zero subject to the condition that (k/Re)(1/2) --> 0. Unlike in all the models which have been mentioned above, the solution of the problem of the flow around a body in this model gives the free molecular limit for the coefficients of friction, heat transfer and pressure. In particular, the Newtonian limit for the drag is thereby rigorously obtained from the Navier-Stokes equations. At the same time, the Knudsen number, which is governed by the thickness of the shock layer, which vanishes in this model, tends to zero, that is, the conditions for a continuum treatment are satisfied. The structure of the shock wave can be determined both using continuum as well as kinetic models after obtaining the solution in the viscous shock layer for the weak physicochemical processes in the shock wave structure itself. Otherwise, the problem of the shock wave structure and the equations of the viscous shock layer must be jointly solved. The equations for all the continuum models are written in Dorodnitsyn-Lees boundary layer variables, which enables one, prior to solving the problem, to obtain an approximate estimate of second-order effects in boundary-layer theory as a function of Re and the parameter k and to represent all the aerodynamic and thermal characteristics in the form of a single dependence on Re over the whole range of its variation from zero to infinity. An efficient numerical method of global iterations, previously developed for solving viscous shock-layer equations, can be used to solve problems of supersonic and hypersonic flows around the windward side of blunt bodies using a single hydrodynamic model of a viscous shock layer for all Re numbers, subject to the condition that the limit (k/Re)(1/2)-->0 is satisfied in the case of small Re numbers. An aerodynamic and thermal calculation using different hydrodynamic models, corresponding to different ranges of variation Re (different types of Bow) can thereby, in fact, be replaced by a single calculation using one model for the whole of the trajectory for the descent (entry) of space vehicles and natural cosmic bodies (meteoroids) into the atmosphere. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.
