The calculation and similarity theory of experiment simulating the air-spike effect in hypersonic aerodynamics

It is known that, under conditions of sufficiently intensive heat release, a shock wave (SW) is formed in supersonic flow, which is in a way analogous to that emerging during flow past solid obstacles. On the curvilinear surface of SW, the lines of flow of incident flow are refracted, and the flow diverges from a body placed behind a heat source, as a result of which the dynamic pressure on the body decreases. We have numerically investigated the problem on supersonic flow past an intense heat source, in application to the conditions of experiment during which such an SW was recorded. The experiment was staged by Myrabo and associates with a view to simulating the air-spike effect, i.e., artificial replacement of a sharp metal spike which is usually employed in supersonic flying vehicles, by a powerful energy source at some distance in front of the body being flown about. The concept of air spike created by laser radiation was previously developed by Myrabo and Raizer in application to space flights of the future. Also given are the similarity laws for the dependence of the shape and parameters of the shock wave being formed on the strength of the heat source and characteristics of incident unperturbed flow, which enables one to treat other conditions using the obtained results.