Hypersonic Dynamic Stability Summary By L A Marshall PDF Download

The report presents a summary of the important results obtained on a combined analytical and experimental program for investigation of the hypersonic dynamic stability of re-entry vehicles. An unsteady flow field solution is described which predicts the static and dynamic stability characteristics for vehicles which are executing small amplitude oscillations about zero angle of attack. Solutions were obtained for sharp and blunted, axisymmetric and two-dimensional shapes in real gas equilibrium flow. The experimental program was conducted in AEDC tunnel 'C' at Mach 10 and in the Ling-Temco-Vought Hot Shot tunnel at Mach 14 and 20 to obtain dynamic stability characteristics of a 10 degree cone. Data are presented to show the effect of bluntness ratio, reduced frequency, center of gravity location, Reynolds number and Mach number. Comparisons are made with various theoretical results and limited correlations are shown which establish significant trends.