Experimental Determination of the Recovery Factor and Analytical Solution of the Conical Flow Field for a 20 deg Included Angle Cone at Mach Numbers of 4.6 and 6.0 and Stagnation Temperatures to 2600 degree R

The local recovery factor was determined experimentally along the surface of a thin-walled 20 deg included angle cone for Mach numbers near 6.0 at stagnation temperatures between 1200 deg R and 2600 deg R. In addition, a similar cone configuration was tested at Mach numbers near 4.5 at stagnation temperatures of approximately 612 deg R. The local Reynolds number based on flow properties at the edge of the boundary layer ranged between 0.1 x 10(exp 4) and 3.5 x 10(exp 4) for tests at temperatures above 1200 deg R and between 6 x 10(exp 4) and 25 x 10(exp 4) for tests at temperatures near 612 deg R. The results indicated, generally, that the recovery factor can be predicted satisfactorily using the square root of the Prandtl number. No conclusion could be made as to the necessity of evaluating the Prandtl number at a reference temperature given by an empirical equation, as opposed to evaluating the Prandtl number at the wall temperature or static temperature of the gas at the cone surface. For the tests at temperatures above 1200 deg R (indicated herein as the tests conducted in the slip-flow region), two definite trends in the recovery data were observed - one of increasing recovery factor with decreasing stagnation pressure, which was associated with slip-flow effects and one of decreasing recovery factor with increasing temperature. The true cause of the latter trend could not be ascertained, but it was shown that this trend was not appreciably altered by the sources of error of the magnitude considered herein. The real-gas equations of state were used to determine accurately the local stream properties at the outer edge of the boundary layer of the cone. Included in the report, therefore, is a general solution for the conical flow of a real gas using the Beattie-Bridgeman equation of state. The largest effect of temperature was seen to be in the terms which were dependent upon the internal energy of the gas. The pressure and hence the pressure drag terms were unaffected.