Thermal analysis of a metallic wing glove for a Mach-8 boundary-layer experiment

H r A metallic "glove" structure has been built andattached to the wing of the Pegasus ® space booster. An MLexperiment on the upper surface of the glove has been Re Ldesigned to help validate boundary-layer stability codesin a free-flight environment. Three-dimensional thermal ReTR Nanalyses have been performed to ensure that the glovestructure design would be within allowable temperature SPARlimits in the experiment test section of the upper skin of SWASthe glove. Temperature results obtained from the design-case analysis show a peak temperature at the leading Tedge of 490 °F. For the upper surface of the glove, tapproximately 3 in. back from the leading edge,temperature calculations indicate transition occurs at TPATHapproximately 45 sec into the flight profile. A worst-caseheating analysis has also been performed to ensure thatthe glove structure would not have any detrimentaleffects on the primary objective of the Pegasus ® launch.A peak temperature of 805 °F has been calculated on theleading edge of the glove structure. The temperaturespredicted from the design case are well within thetemperature limits of the glove structure, and the worst-case heating analysis temperature results are acceptablefor the mission objectives.