DSMC Simulation for Effects of Angles of Attack on Rarefied Hypersonic Cavity Flows

The present work investigates rarefied hypersonic flows over a flat plate with two-dimensional and three-dimensional cavities by employing the direct simulation Monte Carlo (DSMC) method, focusing on the effect of angles of attack (AOAs) on flow structure inside the cavity and aerodynamic surface quantities. It was found that only one primary recirculation structure was formed inside the cavity at the angle of attack (AOA) of 0 degrees, while a second vortex system was produced just beneath the primary one with the angle of attack increased to 30 degrees, As AOAs grow, the freestream flow is able to penetrate deeper into the cavity and attach itself to the cavity base, making the "dead-water" region shrink. Meantime, with the increment in the AOA, both heat transfer and pressure coefficients show a similar and gradual quantitative behavior, and along centerlines of the two side surfaces of the cavity, both pressure and heat transfer coefficients become growing, indicating that the increase in the AOA does enhance momentum and energy transfer to both the two aforementioned surfaces. However, the heat flux over the cavity floor does not keep increasing with the growth of the AOA, while the pressure does, indicating that augmenting AOAs does not enhance momentum to the cavity floor, but does make compressibility stronger and stronger near the cavity base.