Laminar–turbulent transition reversal on blunt ogive body of revolution at hypersonic speeds

The influence of flow parameters and nose radius on the location of laminar–turbulent transition is investigated. The model is an ogive-conical body of revolution having half angle about 9°. Experiments were conducted in a shock tunnel at Mach number 5. The transition location was diagnosed by the heat transfer rate distribution determined with the aid of luminescent temperature converters. It is shown that transition reversal can occur either (a) in the absence of turbulent wedges or (b) at a constant level of freestream disturbances. Both increasing and decreasing branches of Re∞,t (Re∞,R) dependency were observed at constant nose radius while varying only the unit Reynolds number.