Published online by Cambridge University Press: 04 July 2016
For a 15° boat-tailed heat shield or payload shroud, the unsteady, compressible Navier-Stokes equations are numerically solved. For a Reynolds number of the order of one million and for four different freestream Mach numbers, the time integration is performed for 64 x 30 grid computational domain. The entire flow-field is analysed to delineate the gross dominant characteristics. It is observed that the flow in the boat-tail region is completely attached for Mach number 2·47 and beyond whereas it is separated for lower Mach numbers. A comparison between the numerical solutions and the available experimental results is provided and, for incipient flow separation conditions, an evaluation of unsteady surface pressure data is presented.