Fundamentals of Hypersonic Flow - Aerothermodynamics

To aid in understanding the different topics discussed in the current Lecture Series and to provide background material for interested participants who may not have specialized training in this field, a brief summary of the fundamental attributes of hypersonic flows is given. Many of the topics that are introduced in this section will be elaborated further in contributions related to specific subjects related to sustained hypersonic flight. The differences between the thermal and chemical aspects of hypersonic flow and supersonic flow are therefore highlighted. The age of some of the figures used in the subsequent discussion reflect the fact that the problems of hypersonic flight are not newly discovered!