Hypersonic flows over slender circular cones at small angles of attack

This paper presents a perturbation theory for hypersonic flows past pointed-nose slender bodies of revolution at small angles of attack. The theory presents the counter part of other theories on two-dimensional flow, axisymmetric flow, and flow past delta wings, in the case of bodies of revolution. Further restricting the analysis to Newtonian flow, a straightforward perturbation in the angle of attack is applied to the equations obtained and the resulting equations are solved only for circular cones. A striking feature of this approach is the absence of a vortical layer and a uniformally valid solution at body surface and all over the flowfield. In spite of the yaw angle, conical streamlines at cone surface are predicted which bend around towards the leeward plane. Results obtained for the surface pressure and the shock wave of a circular cone compare very well with other approximate calculations and experiment.