Free-flight measurements of pressure and heat transfer on a blunt leading-edge caret wing at design and off-design Mach numbers (M infinity = 0.9 to 3.36)

Abstract

Pressure and heat-transfer measurements have been made in free flight on a caret wing with blunt leading edges and nose, at speeds below and above the design Mach number of 2.47. Comparison with data from a corresponding caret wing but with sharp leading edges indicates that the effect of blunting is confined to a region about 2 to 3 leading-edge diameters from the leading edge. At M∞ > 1.5 the data for the blunt leading edges and for the plane lifting surfaces were for the most part predicted with reasonable accuracy using easily-applied existing theory. A considerable reduction in heating rate was found in the wing junction.