Surface Roughness Effects on the Hypersonic Flow Over Double-Wedge Bodies With a Blunt Leading Edge at Different Aft-Wedge Angles

Recently, blunt bodies have been studied numerically through computational fluid dynamics due to their ability to maintain higher heating loads at hypersonic speeds due to their heat distribution on a larger volume than their counterparts: sharp bodies. For this study, we have simulated a blunt double-wedge geometry using different fluid flow models, such as turbulence models: k-omega and laminar, to be compared against varying levels of surface roughness. Additionally, we compare the sharp cone with the aforementioned leading-blunt edge bodies, both with double wedges, at varying degrees of surface roughness. We then find that a leading blunt edge can alter the shock interaction pattern compared to its sharp geometrical counterpart. We aim to study aerothermal heating under different conditions without incorporating the ablation effects during hypersonic flight for extended periods that depend on the Mach Number. This study approximates the aero-thermal heating the double-cone wedge geometry will experience under different hypersonic speeds on turbulent fluid flow regimes and surface roughness values. We know that turbulent fluid flow will create higher aero-thermal heating and drag than laminar fluid flow. We estimate transition effects on the double wedge blunt geometry by comparing the laminar and turbulent fluid flow regimes. This paper will explicitly provide those values from computational fluid dynamics studies. We have performed benchmark studies and have compared our studies against literature values against other geometries.