Abstract
The paper presents a semi-empirical theoretical model for calculating the effect of nose bluntness on the stability derivatives of oscillating slender cones at hypersonic Mach numbers. The model is based on hybrid blast wave analogy /shock-expansion flow model and is used to obtain closed form analytic expressions for certain stability derivatives for oscillating slender cones. In addition, two models based on zero thickness and finite thickness entropy layers are proposed which are seen to be appropriate to the cases of very small and large noise bluntnesses, respectively. Finally, the results are compared with new and existing experimental data and with predictions of previous theoretical methods.