Hypersonic rarefied flow about plates at incidence

Abstract

The direct-simulation Monte Carlo method has been used in a numerical study of the transitional flow about two plate configurations at incidence; one of the two plates, both of which are 12 m long, has zero thickness, while the other has a thickness of 0.5 m and a node radius of 0.5 m. The flow conditions simulated are those of the Space Shuttle Orbiter during 7.5 km/hr reentry, in the 200-100 km altitude range encompassing most of the transitional flow for this vehicle. The results obtained clearly demonstrate that transitional effects are significant even at those altitudes where the flow about a typical space vehicle has been considered free-molecular.