The Viscous Hypersonic Slender-Body Problem

A system of equations of the parabolic type is reduced from the Navier-Stokes equations for the entire field of steady hypersonic flows of a caloric perfect gas, applicable to flow over a slender body. Using finite difference techniques, this system can be integrated for the entire field as an initial-value problem in longitudinal distance. Two difference procedures are developed for the plane and axisymmetric cases. As a model problem, the solution procedures are applied to the flow field over a flat plate upstream of the classical strong-interaction regime, and the results are discussed. This study provides a basis for assessing the various continuum models of hypersonic flows for the strong-interaction and other regimes corresponding to higher degrees of rarefaction, and for identifying their domains of applicability. The memorandum contributes to the study of critical technical areas in the design and development of hypersonic lifting vehicles.