Heating rate measurements over 30 deg and 40 deg (half angle) blunt cones in air and helium in the Langley expansion tube facility

Convective heat transfer measurements, made on the conical portion of spherically blunted cones (30 deg and 40 deg half angle) in an expansion tube are discussed. The test gases used were helium and air; flow velocities were about 6.8 km/sec for helium and about 5.1 km/sec for air. The measured heating rates are compared with calculated results using a viscous shock layer computer code. For air, various techniques to determine flow velocity yielded identical results, but for helium, the flow velocity varied by as much as eight percent depending on which technique was used. The measured heating rates are in satisfactory agreement with calculation for helium, assuming the lower flow velocity, the measurements are significantly greater than theory and the discrepancy increased with increasing distance along the cone.