Numerical Investigation of a Blunt-Nosed Elliptical Cone at High Angle of Attack

A computational fluid dynamics investigation was conducted on a blunt-nosed elliptical cone configuration. The purpose of the study was to investigate the advantages of high angle of attack reentry for a simple configuration representative of a flight vehicle. The geometry and test conditions were selected for comparison to experiments: a 2:1 blunt elliptic cone configuration at a Mach number of 14.5, Reynolds number of 50,000/ft, and angles of attack ranging from of 0 ° to 60°. The calculations were carried out using the unstructured-grid, Reynolds Averaged Navier-Stokes code AVUS, developed at the Air Force Research Laboratory. This code has perfect gas, equilibrium, and non-equilibrium capabilities. Only perfect gas solutions were employed in this initial computational effort. Preliminary calculations have been carried out for 0°, 40 ˚ and 60 ° angles of attack. The leeside flow structure was examined in detail, including grid resolution studies, and comparison to the available experimental data for surface pressure and heat transfer. I