TABLE OF CONTENTS The Rankine-Hugoniot-Prandtl-Meyer- (RHPM-) flyer - an infinitely thin flat plate - is the highly simplified configuration of a hypersonic flight vehicle. It approximates for M ? > 1 at small angles of attack a CAV-type flight vehicle (RHPM-CAV-flyer), and at large angle of attack a RV-type vehicle (RHPM-RV-flyer). Aerodynamic control surfaces or inlet ramps can be simulated by attachment of a separate flat plate element with a deflection or ramp angle.
The parameters of the inviscid flow on the windward (w) side of the RHPM-flyer - found with the Rankine-Hugoniot relations - and on its lee (1) side - found with the Prandtl-Meyer relation - are each constant, Fig. 11.1, also on the possible attachments (control surfaces or inlet ramps). They are functions only of the free-stream Mach number M ?, the assumed effective ratio of specific heats ? eff, and of the angle of attack a, which of course must be smaller than ? max at which the shock wave at the windward side becomes detached, eq. (6.116). If on the lee side the expansion limit is reached, M l ? ? is obtained as result and all thermodynamic variables are set to zero.
The RHPM-flyer serves as a teaching and demonstration flight vehicle. It permits a fast and cheap illustration and approximate quantification of con-figurational, inviscid,...
