Experimental Hypersonic Aerodynamics and Advances in Aerospace Engineering

Most space missions fall in the hypersonic reentry regime. There are several open questions and unknown phenomena in aerothermodynamics around vehicles at flow regimes exceeding Mach 4 due to its inherent complexities. Strong entropy gradients, thick shock layers, dissociated high temperature flows, chemically reacting boundary layers, and viscous interactions are some of the unique flow features dominating the hypersonic flight regimes. It is possible to carry out a detailed analysis on spacecraft aerodynamics leading to an optimized design. Considering the complexity of the problem, desired accuracy of the analysis, and restrictions of numerical methods such as CFD, the experimental approach is preferred in most real-world projects. Due to the increasing importance of Hypersonic Aerodynamicsin modern aerospace studies, this paper reviews the recent advances, technical achievements as well asindustrial and scientific trends subsequent topresenting a brief introduction to the field.