Aerothermodynamic Analysis of Faceted Aeroshell at Hypersonic Speed

• Main Authors: Innocenzi, Pietro, Gramola, Michela, Fisher, Tom B, Quinn, Mark K, Bruce, Paul J. K, Navarro-Martinez, Salvador
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: 22-11-2023
• Subjects: Physics - Fluid Dynamics
• DOI: 10.48550/arxiv.2311.13487

This study explores the aerothermal behaviour of a rigid mechanically
deployable aeroshell developed at Imperial College London for high payload
atmospheric entry missions. The multiphysics CFD software STAR-CCM+ is used to
perform a Conjugate Heat Transfer analysis on the aeroshell's faceted geometry.
Results are presented for four different geometry models tested in air at Mach
5 with angles of attack 0{\deg}, 5{\deg} and 10{\deg}. The predicted surface
heat transfer reveals areas of elevated heat loads at the ribs between facets
and at the aeroshell shoulder, due to local boundary layer thinning. The
increase in heat transfer at the ribs depends on the sharpness of the rib: more
rounded shapes result in lower heat fluxes. Comparison with high-speed wind
tunnel tests shows good agreement with experimental data. Stanton number and
temperature profiles agree within 8% and 2%, respectively. The discrepancies
between experiments and simulations are largest at the sharp ribs of the
aeroshell. The sources of error can be associated with three-dimensional
effects neglected in the heat flux derivations from temperature measurements as
well as experimental uncertainties.