Numerical study of gas–surface interface effects due to transpiration in a hypersonic flow over a blunt body

Abstract

This paper investigates the impact of transpiration on a hypersonic flow over a cylinder, considering different degrees of rarefaction. The study analyzes the interaction between freestream argon gas flow at Mach 5 and transpiring argon gas at the fluid–solid interface at a velocity of 10 m/s. Freestream Knudsen numbers considered are 0.002, 0.01, 0.05, and 0.25, spanning from a continuum to rarefied regime. Flow simulations utilize the open-source direct simulation Monte Carlo solver, Stochastic PArallel Rarefied-gas Time-accurate Analyzer. The influence of transpiration on flow and surface properties is examined by comparing non-transpiration and transpiration cases. At all regimes, transpiration increases the normal shock stand-off distance, while a comparison of flow properties along the stagnation line reveals a reduction in the velocity and an increase in the post-shock temperature with transpiration. Surface heat flux comparison indicates that transpiring gas reduces heat flux on the cylinder's upstream-facing front surface at all Knudsen numbers. However, at Kn∞ = 0.25, a shift occurs, and surface heat flux starts increasing locally from the top/bottom point on the cylinder surface through the rear face of the cylinder. Furthermore, a test for the validity of the continuum-based blowing correction correlation function reveals the failure of the empirical model, even in the continuum regime at Kn∞ = 0.002, casting doubt on its applicability to vehicles with curvilinear blunt-body shapes. Additionally, a sensitivity analysis demonstrates that transpiring gas with a number density an order of magnitude higher than the freestream reduces stagnation peak heat flux by nearly 30%, while transpiring gas with a temperature two times higher than the freestream shows a ∼13% reduction.