Selected aerothermodynamic design problems of hypersonic flight vehicles

This is perhaps one of the first books of its kind exclusively dealing with the design issues of hypersonic flight vehicles in great detail. The authors are wellknown experts in this area, having worked on several hypersonic projects for the European Space Agency, the German aerospace industry and its main research organisation (DLR). As a result, they have written an authoritative account of design problems based on first-hand experience. The book covers aerothermodynamic design problems of all categories of hypersonic flight vehicles – the winged re-entry vehicles (chapter 3), the winged airbreathing vehicles (chapter 4) and the non-winged reentry vehicles (chapter 5). The design problems of all three categories of vehicles are described by providing real world examples. The uses of CFD codes, wind tunnel testing and in-flight data in hypersonic vehicle design are very well illustrated. Chapters 3–5 are particularly useful and informative for practitioners, as well as advanced students who may be interested in learning about hypersonic vehicle design. The book assumes a knowledge of compressible flow, aerodynamic principles and a basic knowledge of CFD on the part of the reader. As the authors point out, this information is available in many standard texts on compressible flow and CFD. However, certain topics are not included in these books and the practitioner has to look for information elsewhere, which may not be easily possible. Therefore, the authors have included in chapter 2 an introduction to flight trajectories for aerothermodynamicists, in chapter 6 the description of stabilisation, trim, and control devices, and in chapter 7 the description of forces, moments, centre of pressure, trim and stability relevant to hypersonic vehicles. The inclusion of this wide range of topics in a single book will be very helpful to persons working in this area of aerospace design. Chapter 9 provides a discussion of the thermal state of a hypersonic vehicle, while chapter 10 covers the widely used geff approach and other approximate relations. Chapter 11 covers multidisciplinary design aspects. Appendices A–E are especially valuable; Appendix A provides the governing equations of aerothermodynamics in computable conservation law form; these equations are not easily available in standard CFD and compressible flow texts, while Appendix B provides detailed information and tables of the properties of the Earth’s atmosphere that are needed by the designer. Appendices C–E cover the constants, units and their conversion; explanation of various symbols used; and glossary, abbreviations and acronyms, respectively. Each chapter has a comprehensive list of key references. At the end of the book, there is an excellent name index and subject index. Thus, the book provides a fairly complete set of information not easily available in a single textbook on hypersonic flow with a focus on design problems. Thus, it will serve as a valuable resource for the scientists/engineers interested in hypersonic flow and design of hypersonic flight vehicles. Chapters 2–8 of the book have a few problems based on the material covered in that chapter. It appears that the authors probably had in mind that the book could be used as a text for advanced graduate students and the problems could be assigned to the students. The problems are fairly straightforward. Paradoxically, the solutions are also given in the book in chapter 11. However, it appears unlikely to this reviewer that the book will be used as a required text in any university curriculum on hypersonic flow or hypersonic vehicle design. It certainly can be very valuable as a reference book for both advanced graduate students and industrial practitioners. The writing style is excellent although very compact and condensed; it assumes a great deal of familiarity with compressible flow aerodynamics and CFD on the part of the reader. On the whole, the authors should be very highly commended for such an undertaking and for producing a unique and much needed book dealing with aerothermodynamic problems of hypersonic flight vehicles.