BLAYER User Guide

A software utility employed for post-processing computational fluid dynamics solutions about atmospheric entry vehicles is described as a supplement to the documentation within the source code. This BLAYER application and its ancillary utilities are in the public domain at https://sourceforge.net/projects/cfdutilities/. BLAYER was developed at NASA Ames Research Center in support of the DPLR (Data Parallel Line Relaxation) flow solver. Its underlying algorithm has since been incorporated by others into the LAURA and US3D flow solvers at NASA Langley Research Center and the University of Minnesota respectively. The essence of the algorithm is to locate the boundary layer edge by seeking the peak curvature in a total enthalpy profile. Turning that insight into a practical tool suited to a wide range of possible profiles has led to a hybrid two-stage method. The traditional method-location of (say) 99.5% of free-stream total enthalpy-remains an option, though it may be less robust. Details are provided and multiple examples are presented.