Tests have been made at a Mach number of 4.03 and Reynolds number of 3'4 million on two families of models, consisting of delta wings with underslung half-Cone bodies. The wing sweepback angles were 75 ° and 80 °, and the appropriate cone semi-vertex angles tested were 4 °, 10 ° and 13 ° for the larger wing and 4 °, 6"7 ° and 10 ° for the smaller wing. The surface distributions were measured at...

In support of the Columbia Accident Investigation, inviscid computations of the aerodynamic characteristics for various Shuttle Orbiter damage scenarios were performed using the Felisa unstructured CFD solver. Computed delta aerodynamics were compared with the reconstructed delta aerodynamics in order to postulate a progression of damage through the flight trajectory. By performing computations...

This paper illustrates some pitfalls in the interpretation of flow visualisation images of delta wing leading-edge vortices. Numerical simulations of tracer particle trajectories in around straight and helical vortices are presented, representing unburst and burst delta wing vortices respectively. For straight vortices, the appearance of the ‘smoke-ring’ effect in wind tunnel testing is analyse...