Abstract
Coefficients of convective heat transfer have been evaluated by analysis of the skin-temperature measurements made at several points on the nose of a V-2 (German A-4) rocket during flight in New Mexico. On one side, the surface of the nose was smooth but on the other side, 4 in. from the nose tip, a transverse ridge about ⅛ in. high, was purposely provided as a turbulence promoter.
The test results are compared in dimensionless form with various proposed correlations for both laminar and turbulent conditions of the boundary layer. The test results, thus correlated, seem to justify the following conclusions: (1) Boundary-layer transition seems to be more dependent, at supersonic speed, on Mach number than on Reynolds number. (2) The theoretical heat-transfer correlation for a laminar layer is confirmed by the appropriate sets of test points to the estimated order of accuracy of the test. (3) For turbulent layer conditions, the subsonic correlation for a flat plate provides better agreement with the supersonic test results than does Eber’s correlation, but there still remains a range of uncertainty as to the best choice of temperature for evaluation of the air properties.