Experimental Space Shuttle Orbiter Studies to Acquire Data for Code and Flight Heating Model Validation

In an experimental study to obtain detailed heating data over the Space Shuttle Orbiter, CUBRC has completed an extensive matrix of experiments using three distinct models and two unique hypervelocity wind tunnel facilities. This detailed data will be employed to assess heating augmentation due to boundary layer transition on the Orbiter wing leading edge and wind side acreage with comparisons to computational methods and flight data obtained during the Orbiter Entry Boundary Layer Flight Experiment and HYTHIRM during STS-119 reentry. These comparisons will facilitate critical updates to be made to the engineering tools employed to make assessments about natural and tripped boundary layer transition during Orbiter reentry. To achieve the goals of this study data was obtained over a range of Mach numbers from 10 to 18, with flight scaled Reynolds numbers and model attitudes representing key points on the Orbiter reentry trajectory. The first of these studies were performed as an integral part of Return to Flight activities following the accident that occurred during the reentry of the Space Shuttle Columbia (STS-107) in February of 2003. This accident was caused by debris, which originated from the foam covering the external tank bipod fitting ramps, striking and damaging critical wing leading edge heating tiles that reside in the Orbiter bow shock/wing interaction region. During investigation of the accident aeroheating team members discovered that only a limited amount of experimental wing leading edge data existed in this critical peak heating area and a need arose to acquire a detailed dataset of heating in this region. This new dataset was acquired in three phases consisting of a risk mitigation phase employing a 1.8% scale Orbiter model with special temperature sensitive paint covering the wing leading edge, a 0.9% scale Orbiter model with high resolution thin-film instrumentation in the span direction, and the primary 1.8% scale Orbiter model with detailed thin-film resolution in both the span and chord direction in the area of peak heating. Additional objectives of this first study included: obtaining natural or tripped turbulent wing leading edge heating levels, assessing the effectiveness of protuberances and cavities placed at specified locations on the orbiter over a range of Mach numbers and Reynolds numbers to evaluate and compare to existing engineering and computational tools, obtaining cavity floor heating to aid in the verification of cavi