Computational study of flow over Fire II Re-entry Vehicle at various Supersonic Speeds

Aerospace Engineering

Re-entry modules are blunt bodies that are designed in such a way that they can withstand the extreme temperature loads during atmospheric re-entry. Designing a re-entry vehicle requires dependable data on the aerodynamic flow properties. After hypersonic re-entry, the vehicle has to decelerate at supersonic speeds until the parachutes are deployed. Examining the flow properties over the vehicle at supersonic speed is important of which temperature serves as critical data for a successful recovery operation. Hence this paper is presented to understand the variation in temperature, as the re-entry vehicle decelerates from Mach no. 3 to 1.2. Temperature variation along with pressure distribution is obtained computationally for freestream Mach numbers 1.2, 2 and 3 with appropriate boundary conditions using Ansys FLUENT. The results also describe the flow field around a capsule in supersonic flow and understand the importance of shock waves which influences the aerodynamic forces on the capsule. The analysis showed the flow-field features such as bow shock wave on the frontal heat shield surface and expansion fan on the shoulder terminating region around the re-entry capsule. This research will assist spacecraft design engineers to analyse the flowfield and choose the appropriate materials. Further, the analysis performed can aid in the designing of parachutes that are used to decelerate the re-entry vehicle for a safe landing.

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