Studies of shock/shock interaction on smooth and transpiration-cooled hemispherical nosetips in hypersonic flow

A program of experimental research and analysis was conducted to examine the heat transfer and pressure distributions in regions of shock/shock interaction over smooth and transpiration-cooled hemispherical noseshapes. The objective of this investigation was to determine whether the large heat transfer generated in regions of shock/shock interaction can be reduced by transpiration cooling. The experimental program was conducted at Mach numbers of 12 to 16 in the Calspan 48-Inch Shock Tunnel. Type 3 and type 4 interaction regions were generated for a range of freestream unit Reynolds numbers to provide shear layer Reynolds numbers from 10 exp 4 to 10 exp 6 to enable laminar and turbulent interaction regions to be studied. Shock/shock interactions were investigated on a smooth hemispherical nosetip and a similar transpiration-cooled nosetip, with the latter configuration being examined for a range of surface blowing rates up to one-third of the freestream mass flux. While the heat transfer measurements on the smooth hemisphere without shock/shock interaction were in good agreement with Fay-Riddell predictions, those on the transpiration-cooled nosetip indicated that its intrinsic roughness caused heating-enhancement factors of over 1.5. In the shock/shock interaction studies on the smooth nosetip, detailed heat transfer and pressure measurements were obtained to map the variation of the distributions with shock-impingement position for a range of type 3 and type 4 interactions. Such sets of measurements were obtained for a range of unit Reynolds numbers and Mach numbers to obtain both laminar and turbulent interactions. The measurements indicated that shear layer transition has a significant influence on the heating rates for the type 4 interaction as well as the anticipated large effects on type 3 interaction heating. In the absence of blowing, the peak heating in the type 3 and type 4 interaction regions, over the transpiration-cooled model, did not appear to be influenced by the model's rough surface characteristics. The studies of the effects of the transpiration cooling on type 3 and type 4 shock/shock interaction regions demonstrated that large surface blowing rates had significant effect on the structure of the flowfield, enlarging the shock layer and moving the region of peak-heating interaction around the body.