Approximate method for calculating heating rates on three-dimensional vehicles

An approximate method for calculating heating rates on three-dimensional vehicles at angle of attack is presented. The method is based on the axisymmetric analog for three-dimensional boundary layers and uses a generalized body-fitted coordinate system. Edge conditions for the boundary-layer solution are obtained from an inviscid flowfield solution, and because of the coordinate system used, the method is applicable to any blunt body geometry for which an inviscid flowfield solution can be obtained. The method is validated by comparing with experimental heating data and with thin-layer Navier-Stokes calculations on the shuttle orbiter at both wind-tunnel and flight conditions and with thin-layer Navier-Stokes calculations on the HL-20 at wind-tunnel conditions.