Calculated heating on the afterbody nozzle of a hypersonic aircraft concept

The present analysis was carried out to estimate the heating levels of the external nozzle of a scramjet/airframe-integrated research aircraft. A parametric examination of the effects of Mach number, reference length, and wall temperature showed that the heating rate distributions are independent of reference length and wall temperature. The initial heating rates obtained for a Mach 6 flight are in the (3 to 8) x 10 to the 5th power W/sq m range. Underlying the entire study is the question of nozzle boundary layer formation and growth, as well as the question of the reference length value that should be used in the computations. It is shown that the reference length is not the dominant factor setting the heating levels; an attempt to bound the actual length was made. A more detailed calculation of the rates requires further work to gain a better understanding of the combustor exit boundary layer.