Heat Transfer and Boundary-Layer Transition on a Highly Polished Hemisphere-Cone in Free Flight at Mach Numbers Up to 3.14 and Reynolds Numbers Up to 24 x 10(exp 6)

A highly polished hemisphere-cone having a ratio of nose radius to base radius of 0.74 and a half-angle of 14.5 was flight tested at Mach numbers up to 4.70. Temperature and pressure data were obtained at Mach numbers up to 3.14 and a free-stream Reynolds number of 24 x 10(exp 6) based on body diameter. The nose of the model had a surface roughness of 2 to 5 microinches as measured with an interferometer. The measured Stanton numbers were in good agreement with theory. Transition Reynolds numbers based on the laminar boundary-layer momentum thickness at transition ranged from 2,190 to 794. Comparison with results from previous tests of blunt shapes having a surface roughness of 20 to 40 microinches showed that the high degree of polish was instrumental in delaying the transition from laminar to turbulent flow.