Real-time aerodynamic heating and surface temperature calculations for hypersonic flight simulation

A real-time heating algorithm was derived and installed on the Ames Research Center Dryden Flight Research Facility real-time flight simulator. This program can calculate two- and three-dimensional stagnation point surface heating rates and surface temperatures. The two-dimensional calculations can be made with or without leading-edge sweep. In addition, upper and lower surface heating rates and surface temperatures for flat plates, wedges, and cones can be calculated. Laminar or turbulent heating can be calculated, with boundary-layer transition made a function of free-stream Reynolds number and free-stream Mach number. Real-time heating rates and surface temperatures calculated for a generic hypersonic vehicle are presented and compared with more exact values computed by a batch aeroheating program. As these comparisons show, the heating algorithm used on the flight simulator calculates surface heating rates and temperatures well within the accuracy required to evaluate flight profiles for acceptable heating trajectories.