Rarefied Flow

Rarefaction effects are important for hypersonic applications for a wide spectrum of conditions ranging from low-density (high altitude) situations to relatively high-density flows where the characteristic dimension is small. The present chapter concentrates on two hypersonic flow problems at flow conditions that produce a significant range of rarefaction effects: corner flow with jet interaction and blunt body flow with special emphasis on the near wake, These problems were chosen because they involve complex flow interactions that have significant implications for both spacecraft and re-entry vehicles. In an effort to clarify issues associated with these two general flow problems and to enhance their respective databases, both experimental and computational contributions were executed by an international group of researchers. In some cases, multiple data sources for both experimental and computational contributions are achieved.