X-33 computational aeroheating predictions and comparisons with experimental data

A computational hypersonic aeroheating study conducted at the NASA Langley Research Center to support development of the X-33 thermal protection syste m is detailed. In this research, laminar and turbulent aeroheating predicti ons were generated at wind-tunnel test conditions using two finite volume, Navier-Stokes solvers and a coupled inviscid-solver/boundary-layer-code eng ineering method. The wind-tunnel computations were performed at Mach 6 for angles of attack of 20-40 deg. Laminar beating distribution comparisons bet ween the predictions and wind-tunnel data were generally within +/- 10% for the Navier-Stokes method and +/- 25% for the engineering code method, wher eas turbulent computations were within +/- 20% of the data. Laminar aerohea ting computations were also performed at flight conditions using the two Na vier-Stokes solvers. Flight-case results from tile two Navier-Stokes codes were found to agree to within less than +/- 10%.