Measurements of aerodynamic heating on a 15 deg cone of graded wall thickness at a Mach number of 6.8

Abstract

This report describes transient wall temperature measurements made on a 15 deg total-angle cone at zero incidence in an airstream of Mach number 6.8. The skin of the model was sufficiently thin to allow it to reach zero-heat-transfer conditions within a running time of one minute. In order to reduce effects of longitudinal heat conduction during a run the electro-formed nickel skin of the model was made with graded thickness, and as a result fairly uniform temperature distributions along the surface were obtained at all times in both the laminar and turbulent regions. Values of heat transfer, calculated from the wall temperature-time histories using the thin-wall 'heat pulse' assumption, together with recovery temperature are compared to theoretical estimates using the intermediate enthalpy method.