Details
Assessment of gas-surface interaction modelling for lifting body re-entry flight design
By Alan Viladegut
PhD Thesis from the von Karman Institute / Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya, December 2017, ISBN 978-2-87516-129-1, 171 pgs
https://doi.org/10.35294/phdt201804
Abstract
Space re-entry is a challenging endeavor due to the harsh thermo-chemical environment around the vehicle. Heat flux being the reference parameter for Thermal Protection System design, the total energy transfer can significantly increase due to exothermic atomic recombination enhanced by TPS catalytic properties. The catalytic recombination coefficient modelling is critical for heat flux computation during TPS design.
This work assesses the VKI-Plasmatron capabilities to determine the recombination coefficient for catalytic model validation: from a deterministic reference catalytic model development for enthalpy characterization of the facility, to the identification of influencing parameters found in nonequilibrium boundary layers. Plasmatron test results encourage a flight extrapolation strategy development in order to link catalysis measured on ground, with catalysis appearing in flight. Such strategy being focused on off-stagnation point, it contributes to the future post-flight activities of the CATalytic Experiment on board of the Intermediate eXperimental Vehicle. Relevant data provided by IXV and CATE are also presented.
Additional Information
| Manufacturer | von Karman Institute for Fluid Dynamics |
|---|