Special Topics in Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering: Introduction to Hypersonic Aerodynamics and Thermal Protection Design

The course is intended for junior/senior students and it covers some critical aspects of hypervelocity flight related to manned and unmanned spacecrafts. In order to assimilate the material, the students will be engaged in a project that will culminate in a report and an oral presentation of the work. The course will first address inviscid and viscous hypersonic flows neglecting high temperature effects, and develop the classical approach based on "cold" hypersonics. Phenomena associated with high temperature effects will then be discussed. The design principles of spacecraft heat shielding will be presented in the final part of the course.