184 AIAA JOURNAL VOL. 6, NO.

Reynolds Number Dependence of inviscid air ionization, although high in the forebody region,
becomes lower than the inner contaminated flow in the after-
Apollo Near-Wake Temperature body region due to inviscid nonequilibrium effects. The
Reynolds number dependence of the inner near-wake tem-
PAUL W. HUBER* AND JAMES L. HUNT| perature, therefore, becomes a first-order question since the
NASA Langley Research Center, Hampton, Va. pertinent part of re-entry may involve a Reynolds number
range of nearly four decades.
Nomenclature Although there are theoretical and experimental data
available for the Reynolds number dependence of near-wake
D = body diameter temperature for blunt-based slender bodies,2"7 there are
Me = Mach number at boundary-layer edge
Moo = flight Mach number very few such data for blunt-nosed bodies. Reeves and
pt = tunnel total pressure, psig Lees8 show a theoretical Reynolds number dependence for a
RCO,D = flight Reynolds number based on body diameter cold-wall circular cylinder wherein temperature decreases
r = radius of body surface at boundary-layer separation as Reynolds number increases, which is the same type of
Tw = afterbody wall temperature dependence as that of the slender bodies (cones and wedges).
Ts = tunnel stagnation temperature This result might appear at first somewhat strange since the
y = radial distance from surface (Fig. 1) theoretical Reynolds number dependence of pressure and
ySL = distance to inner shear-layer edge (Fig. 1) shear-layer angle, for the cylinder, was opposite to that of
a = angle of attack the slender bodies. Dewey9 shows data for pressure and
6 = boundary-layer thickness at separation
shear-layer angle for an adiabatic circular cylinder, however,
which agree with the corresponding predictions of Reeves
and Lees. No data for cold walls or for the Reynolds number
Downloaded by 121.200.6.58 on November 30, 2019 | http://arc.aiaa.org | DOI: 10.2514/3.4474

Introduction
dependence of temperature are given. Beckwith et al.10 made
ACCURATE knowledge of the near-wake temperature of
a few measurement of temperature in the base flow of a
•£*- re-entering probes and spacecraft is important for as-
Gemini model at 15° angle of attack in which temperature
sessment of the extent of radio blackout. This importance
increased with Reynolds number, an effect seemingly opposite
arises because of two principal factors1: 1) when easily
to both the slender body and cylinder laminar predictions.
ionized impurities from the heat shield are present in the
Recently at Langley Research Center of NASA, detailed
inner near-wake flow, antennas located on the afterbody will
temperature surveys have been made in the near wake of an
"look" through this over-ionized region; and 2) the outer
Apollo model at 20° angle of attack which show the same type
Reynolds number dependency as that of the Gemini data.
Probe Position Apollo Temperature Measurements
3 2 1
The Apollo model temperature surveys are shown in Fig. 1
for three tunnel stagnation pressures and three axial posi-
tions through the leeward afterbody flow. In order to mini-
mize the influence of wall temperature on the results (0.39 <

Rear Stagnation Point TW/TS „ f

—— Cones, Wedges .2 2, 3, 4, e
• Circular cylinder .2
Recirculation Region
_ _ __ Wedges .125 7 /
O Gemini, a = 15° .4 10
D Cone .58 5
H-J—I Apollo, * = 20' .4 Present data D

•HH

HH

Fig. 1 Apollo near-wake temperature survey, Mro = 8, a. =

20°, and TW/TS ~ 0.4.
J______|

Received July 10, 1967; revision received September 15, 1967.

* Head, Plasma Applications Section, Aero Physics Division.
Member AIAA.
f Aerospace Engineer, Aero Physics Division. Associate Mem- Fig. 2 Comparisons of Reynolds number dependence of
ber AIAA. near-wake temperature.
 JANUARY 1968 TECHNICAL NOTES
TW/TS < 0.45), the normalized parameter (T - TW)'/(TS -
Tw) is used in Fig. 1. The radial positions are also normalized range. Using those results as a basis, it would then appear
to the point ySL (see Fig. 1) where the temperature showed
an abrupt rise with radial distance (approximate inner edge
of shear layer). The measurements were made using a single
thermocouple probe that could be moved along the paths
shown in Fig. 1. The thermocouple wires were 0.003-in.
diam, and the junction was suspended between two sharpened
prongs about 0.10 in. apart. The prongs were of the same
materials as the thermocouple wires. The tunnel stagnation
temperature was between 800° and 1000° F. For each test
point it was necessary to wait for stabilization of the tempera- that the Apollo and Gemini data shown in Fig. 2 are, in part,
ture vs time of the probe output. This time increased as
the tunnel stagnation pressure decreased. No corrections
to the data have been applied for possible heat losses due to
conduction or radiation at the probe, since calcula.tions indi- similar to the slender body data, considering the wall tem-
cate that these are small. For the same reason, no aero-
dynamic recovery factor has been applied (Knudsen numbers
are on the order of 1, and Mach numbers probably | or less).initial re-entry (low RO>,D) would then be quite different from
The model was supported in the tunnel by a strut attached
to the windward side of the afterbody (forward part of cone)
and swept back about 45° to the flow.
Downloaded by 121.200.6.58 on November 30, 2019 | http://arc.aiaa.org | DOI: 10.2514/3.4474
The maximum temperatures in the recirculating region
from Fig. 1 are plotted in Fig. 2 as a function of Reynolds
number based on body diameter and free-stream conditions.
The uncertainty in the Apollo model temperature data is
shown approximately by the size of the symbols. For com-
parison, some of the reference data for slender bodies are
shown, as well as the Gemini data and the cylinder predic-
tions. The shaded region represents various data for cones
and wedges corrected to TW/TS = 0.2 in the same manner
as those done in Ref. 6. Slender body data for higher wall
temperatures are not shown in Fig. 2, but have about the
same Reynolds number trend although the values of tem-
perature are higher.6
Discussion
The Apollo data shown in Fig. 2 cover about one decade
of RO>,DJ whereas the pertinent re-entry range of Reynolds
numbers for the re-entry blackout problem are from about
103 to nearly 107. It therefore becomes necessary to ex-
trapolate the data a considerable amount and, in view of the
picture seen in Fig. 2, such a course of action is subject to
question. The question could be greatly helped if the funda-
mental reason for the nature of the results could be resolved.
In all fairness to the theories referenced herein, they would not
be expected to apply to such a configuration as this, and even
so, prediction of Reynolds number trend of separated flow
temperature is a stringent test of theory. The primary
conditions for the applicability of the slender-body theory2
are that Me > 4 and d/r ^>> 1; these conditions are certainly
not met in Apollo, and neither is the flow axisymmetric or
two dimensional. The cylinder theory8 is for two-dimensional
flow wherein Me < 3 and d/r <$C 1. The Apollo problem
would come closer to meeting these flow conditions (except
that it is, of course, far from two dimensional) since Me < 3
at separation and the radius of curvature of the body at
separation is fairly large for the over-all problem, considering
also the crossflow separation. It is interesting to note, on the
other hand, that the pressure and shear-layer angle data for
Apollo at both 0° and 35° angle of attack11 show a type of
Rejaiolds number dependence opposite to the cylinder case,
but similar to the slender body case, as does the pressure
data of Ref. 12 for a cylinder of Apollo cross section at 0°
angle of attack.
An important point that must be noted, however, is that
these near-wake theories are for completely laminar flow
and there may be valid question of the Apollo model results
in this regard. Shadowgraph pictures taken at the Ames
Research Laboratory13 for the near wake of an Apollo-like
body at angle of attack indicate that the shear-layer flow
185
can be transitional over a considerable Reynolds number
that the upper two points of the present data are transitional,
and that the lowest one is probably for an all-laminar near
wake (to the wake neck). In Ref. 1 Gemini re-entry sepa-
rated flow electron concentration measurements made from
an antenna near the cone-cylinder junction indicated that
the transition pertinent to those measurements was at about
RO>,D = 9 X 105. Transition pertinent to the base-flow
region could be expected to be at somewhat lower Reynolds
numbers. In view of these data, it would appear probable
transitional. If this is true, then the low Reynolds number
extrapolation might be expected to have a reversed trend of
temperature below Rm,D ~ 3 X 105, and might, in fact, look
perature and the fact that both theories2-8 have this trend.
The predicted temperature in the recirculating region at
one made by monotonic extrapolation of the data. In any
event, it is seen that the temperature is much lower than
that predicted for the cylinder. As for the turbulent regime,
Rm,D > 2 X 106, the lack of blunt-body data makes extrapola-
tion very uncertain. Considering the high Reynolds number
slender-body data,5-7 and the wall temperatures, it might
appear reasonable to extrapolate at nearly constant tem-
perature. On the other hand, such a trend can certainly
not be resolved from the blunt-body data at hand.
References
1
Huber, P. W., "Deduction of Reentry Plasma Properties
about Manned Orbital Spacecraft from Radio Signal Attenua-
tion Data," TN D-4118, NASA.
2
Weiss, R. F. and Weinbaum, S., "Hypersonic Boundary
Layer Separation and the Base Flow Problem," Research Rept.
221, July 1965, Avco-Everett Research Laboratory, Everett,
Mass.
3
Todisco, A. and Pallone, A. J., "Near Wake Flow' Field
Measurements," AIAA Journal, Vol. 3, No. 11, Nov. 1965,
pp. 2075-2080.
4
Zakkay, V. and Cresci, R. J., "An Experimental Investiga-
tion of the Near Wake of a Slender Cone at Mm = 8 and 12,"
AIAA Journal, Vol. 4, No. 1, Jan. 1966, pp. 41-46.
5
Martellucci, A., Trucco, H., and Agrione, A., "Measure-
ments of the Turbulent Near Wake of a Cone at Mach 6," AIAA
Journal, Vol. 4, No. 3, March 1966, pp. 385-391.
6
Muntz, E. P. and Softley, E. J., "A Study of Laminar Near
Wakes," AIAA Journal, Vol. 4, No. 6, June 1966, pp. 961-968.
7
Todisco, A. and Pallone, A., "Measurements in Laminar and
Turbulent Near Wakes," Paper 67-30, Jan. 1967, AIAA, New
York.
8
Reeves, B. L. and Lees, L., "Theory of Laminar Near Wake
of Blunt Bodies in Hypersonic Flow," AIAA Journal, Vol. 3,
No. 11, Nov. 1965, pp. 2061-2074.
9
Dewey, C. F., Jr., "Near Wake of a Blunt Body at Hyper-
sonic Speeds," AIAA Journal, Vol. 3, No. 6, June 1965, pp. 1001-
1010.
10
Beckwith, I. E., Bushnell, D. M., and Huffman, J. K,
"Investigation of Water Injection on Models of Gemini Vehicle
and Resulting Predictions for GT-3 Reentry Communications
Experiment," (U) TM X-1200, March 1966, NASA.
11
Jones, R. A. and Hunt, J. L., "Recent Experimental Studies
on Heat Transfer to Apollo Command Module," Conference
on Langley Research Related to Apollo Mission, Langley Re-
search Center, June, 1965.
12
Bushnell, D. M., "Local Afterbody Heat Transfer to a Blunt
Two-Dimensional Configuration at Mach 8," Master's thesis,
June 1967, University of Virginia.
13
Kruse, R. L., "Transition and Flow Reattachment of the
Separated Boundary Layer of an Apollo-like Bluff Body in Free
Flight at Mach Numbers 1 to 9," prospective report NASA
Ames.