Numerical simulation of hypersonic non-equilibrium wake flow using a higher-resolution method

An object which flies hypersonic speed, such as an aeroassisted orbital transfer vehicle, is affected greatly by not only the bow shock but also the expansion around the shoulder and the recompression of separated flow. Though the experiments to analyze this flow have been performed by some groups recently, there are some difficulties in measuring the flow because of limitations of instrumentation. Both experimental and numerical approaches are necessary to analyze the phenomena. The efficient numerical code which has been developed by the authors for hypersonic thermo-chemical non-equilibrium flow is applied to simulate the problem. The calculated results of different accuracies in space, the perfect gas and the experimental data are compared.