Analytical Foundation of Hypersonic Flow

Abstract Classical hypersonic theories are summarized for both inviscid and viscous flows. Theoretical developments are derived in the continuum regime, with focus on the systematic approximations that have been developed from the characteristics of hypersonic flow. These theories describe some of the most important hypersonic flow observations with relatively simple analysis. However, the effects of internal degrees of freedom of molecules are not considered, and thus the detailed treatment of the phenomena of rarefied flow, real gas effects, and radiation are excluded here.