Normal force characteristics of sharp nosed bodies of revolution at high angles of attack in subsonic and transonic flow

The normal force characteristics of sharp nosed bodies of revolution were investigated experimentally at high angles of attack in a Mack number range form 0.35 to 1.20. The test results were analyzed. It was shown that both the Mach number and the Reynolds number strongly influence the normal force characteristics. The calculation methods based on crossflow theory had not taken into account the effects of viscosity and compressibility, so the actual phenomenon could not be represented. The present research also investigated the effect of rolling orientation on the normal force characteristics experimentally. It was shown that the vortex pattern on the leeside surface has a considerable effect on the normal force coefficient. The difference of the normal force coefficient for different rolling orientations is approximately the same as the magnitude of the Mack number effect. For sharp nosed bodies of revolution the vortex pattern on the leeside surface cannot be predicted precisely. For the same model, at the same angle of attack, the vortex pattern is different with different rolling orientations. Therefore, we can predict that the aerodynamic characteristics of sharp nosed bodies of revolution at high angles of attack should not be unique, and they can vary within a certain range.