The influence of different assumptions for thermochemistry modeling on hypersonic flow over a double-cone geometry is investigated. A CFD analysis is used to study the double-cone in three different thermochemical cases: nonequilibrium flow, equilibrium flow, and frozen flow for air at four different freestream conditions. The thermochemical model effects on the flow field and surface properties are specific areas of interest. The resulting aerothermodynamic loads are compared to CUBRC LENS-XX experiments and indicates that thermochemistry modeling plays an important role in determining surface properties. The results also show that heat load is more sensitive than drag. Comparison is also made of how the effects of thermochemistry modeling differ between older LENS-I and newer LENS-XX experiments by comparing literature. The results indicate that the specific thermochemistry model used to describe hypersonic flow over a double-cone plays an important role in determining surface properties for both facilities, especially at high enthalpies. Careful analysis concludes that consistent over and/or under prediction of pressure drag and heat load in both facilities indicates there is a fundamental difference between the actual experiments and the simulation, thus limiting the usefulness of these double-cone experiments for validation of thermochemistry models.
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