Investigation of Heat Transfer Rates Around the Aerodynamic Cavities on a Flat Plate at Hypersonic Mach Numbers

Abstract

Aerodynamic cavities are common features on hypersonic vehicles which are caused in both large and small scale features like surface defects, pitting, gap in joints etc. In the hypersonic regime, the presence of such cavities alters the flow phenomenon considerably and heating rates adjacent to the discontinuities can be greatly enhanced due to the diversion of flow. Since the 1960s, a great deal of theoretical and experimental research has been carried out on cavity flow physics and heating. However, most of the studies have been done to characterize the effect downstream and within the cavity. In the present study, a series of were carried out in the shock tunnel to investigate the heating characteristics, upstream and on the lateral side of the cavity. Heat flux measurement has been done using indigenously developed high resistance platinum thin film gauges. High resistance gauges, as contrary to the conventionally used low resistance gauges were showing good response to the extremely low heat flux values on a flat plate with sharp leading edge. The experimental measurements of heat done on a flat plate with sharp leading edge using these gauges show good match with theoretical relation by Crabtree et al. Flow visualization using high speed camera with the cavity model and shock structures visualized were similar to reported in supersonic cavity flow. This also goes to state that in spite of the fluctuating shear layer-the main feature of hypersonic flow over a cavity ,reasonable studies can be done within the short test time of shock tunnel. Numerical Simulations by solving the Navier-Stokes equation, using the commercially available CFD package FLUENT 13.0.0 has been done to complement the experimental studies.