Calculation of the Vehicle Drag and Heating Reduction at Hypervelocites with Laser-Induced Air Spike

Abstract

http://dx.doi.org/10.5028/jatm.v5i1.180 Scientists at the laboratory of Força Aérea Brasileira (FAB) have demonstrated experimentally that laser-induced "air spikes" (DEAS) may reduce effectively both total vehicle drag and heating at hypervelocities. Now, we apply the Rayleigh flow to directly determine the degree of reduction in vehicle drag and convective heat flux into the airframe of a hypersonic blunt-body when laser energy is added upstream of the flight path. Our numerical findings are in accordance with the physical trends observed in our previous hypersonic laser-induced DEAS experiments.

Keywords

• Laser
• Flow control
• Hypersonic
• Rayleigh flow