Analysis of laminar-turbulent transition in hypersonic flight using PSE-chem

Boundary layer integral methods and algebraic correlations such as the transition values of Re_θ/M_e are often used as a means of estimating boundary layer transition locations due to the relative ease of computation of the quantities. However, the accepted values of the transition Reynolds number correlation can vary greatly and are often problem-specific. This means that algebraic correlations may be of limited use in the design of new vehicles and a physical mechanism-based method of analyzing boundary layer stability is preferred. While the linear parabolized stability equations (PSE) have proved to be a powerful tool in analyzing boundary layer stability, if they are to be applied towards the prediction of transition to turbulence, they must be coupled with transition correlations based on experimental transition measurements. In this paper, we analyze data from two different reentry experiments to assess the application of the semi-empirical e^N method towards prediction of boundary layer laminar-turbulent transition.