Bluntness Impact on Lift-to-Drag Ratio of Hypersonic Wedge Flow

A computational investigation was conducted on rarefied hypersonic flow past truncated wedges it incidence. Positive angle-of-attack effects on the aerodynamic surface quantities have been investigated by employing the direct simulation Monte Carlo method. The results highlight the sensitivity of the heat transfer coefficient, the total drag coefficient, the total lift coefficient, and the lift-to-drag ratio to changes not only on the angle of attack but also on the frontal-face thickness of the leading edges. Some significant differences between sharp and blunt leading-edges were noted on the surface quantities. Interesting features observed In thew surface properties showed that even small leading-edge thickness, compared with the freestream mean free path, still has important effects on high Mach number leading-edge flows. The analysis is important because it is impossible to achieve ideally sharp leading edges of airframe such as waveriders.