Reduction of drag and energy consumption during energy release preceding a blunt body in supersonic flow

A simple approximate theory is used to estimate the optimal power of a stationary lumped source of energy in a supersonic flow and its minimal distance from a body, which provide for a significant reduction of energy consumption required for the advance of the body. Similarity laws are formulated for the conversion of the numerical or experimental results to other conditions. Numerical simulation is performed of the incidence of hypersonic flow on a blunt body with and without energy release. The calculations are performed in application to the described new experiments in flow past a model and in measuring the drag in a hypersonic shock tunnel at Mach $10$ in the presence or absence of a powerful arc source of energy. Descriptive patterns are given of flow and space distributions of gasdynamic quantities. The calculated shapes of waves agree well with schlieren photographs, and the calculated value of drag force – with the measured value. It is demonstrated numerically that, under close-to-optimal conditions, the drag may be reduced by a factor of approximately five, and the total energy consumption required to overcome this drag – by a factor of four.