Theoretical aerothermal concepts for configuration design of hypersonic vehicles

Convection coefficients and heat fluxes due to aerodynamic heating on critical surfaces of hypersonic vehicle are obtained analytically. The applicability of recovery temperature for stagnation regions is discussed. Convection coefficient for the bicurvature forward stagnation region is obtained directly from 2-D stagnation region correlation, using the two principal radii of curvatures. Convective heat flux to swept-back leading edge (SBLE) surface is obtained from the 2-D stagnation region and flat plate heat fluxes, using the respective velocity vector components. Results reveal the concepts of temperature-minimised-sweepback, and the thermally-benign sharp SBLE effect at high sweepback angles.