Effects of roughness on heating and boundary-layer transition. Part 2: effects of discrete roughness on heating

A preliminary investigation on the effects of roughness on heating in delta wing orbiters was conducted on the windward surface of the vehicle. The purpose of the experiment was to determine the feasibility of using parametric relationships obtained from discrete roughness effects on heating in flat plates and cones, to complex shuttle configurations. An attempt was also made to characterize what parameters were needed to influence roughness. Experimental results show that effective roughness Reynolds numbers are less than or equal to those of flat plates at the same edge Mach number, but, the roughness correlations for plates and cones cannot be applied to the shuttle configuration.