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Design principles for transpiration cooled ceramic sharp leading edges

Abstract:
Transpiration cooling is an active methodology in reducing surface heat flux for hypersonic vehicles, which offers the possibility of reducing nose bluntness and therefore increasing aerodynamic performance. This paper presents a numerical analysis of transpiration cooled sharp leading edges made from ultra-high-temperature ceramics (UHTCs). The structural integrity of a 10 mm radius wedge leading edge is investigated numerically with regard to different coolant plenum geometries and pressurisation magnitudes. It is found that the close spacing of individual plenum chambers reduces the stress in the material significantly and provides the maximum possible coolant mass flux. An optimisation procedure of plenum pressure distribution is carried out using an analytical description of the porous flow in the leading edge. It is found that there exists an optimum plenum pressure that minimises the probability of failure of the leading edge model. Nitrogen coolant requires less pressure than Helium to reach this criterion and furthermore requires less pressure to displace the air freestream and thus protect the leading edge from oxidation.
Publication status:
Published
Peer review status:
Peer reviewed

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Publisher copy:
10.2514/1.t7248

Authors

More by this author
Institution:
University of Oxford
Division:
MPLS
Department:
Engineering Science
Role:
Author
ORCID:
0000-0002-6253-6068
More by this author
Institution:
University of Oxford
Division:
MPLS
Department:
Engineering Science
Role:
Author
ORCID:
0000-0001-9873-7737
More by this author
Institution:
University of Oxford
Division:
MPLS
Department:
Engineering Science
Role:
Author
ORCID:
0000-0002-1755-3096
More by this author
Institution:
University of Oxford
Division:
MPLS
Department:
Engineering Science
Role:
Author


More from this funder
Funder identifier:
https://ror.org/02caytj08
Grant:
HR001119S0022
Programme:
MACH program
More from this funder
Funder identifier:
https://ror.org/0439y7842
Grant:
P/P000878/1


Publisher:
American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics
Journal:
Journal of Thermophysics and Heat Transfer More from this journal
Publication date:
2026-05-26
Acceptance date:
2026-03-22
DOI:
EISSN:
1533-6808
ISSN:
0887-8722

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