Hypersonic Viscous-Gas Flow past an Axisymmetric Blunt Body with a Groove in Its Frontal Surface

The hypersonic perfect-gas flow past the Mars Express Probe with a narrow annular groove in the conical surface is studied on the basis of a numerical analysis of the Navier-Stokes equations. Since the cone angle is greater than the limiting value, the narrow groove is located in a subsonic flow. The calculations are carried out with reference to a characteristic Martian atmosphere entry trajectory point (M∞=23.95) for various heat transfer conditions on the body surface. It is shown that the problem has two solutions (high- and low-temperature) for a groove with a thermally insulated surface.