Accurate Hybrid Flowfield Approaches for High Altitude Maneuverability

Army defense technologies for high speed, lethal threat intercept increasingly rely on high maneuverability of the kill vehicle through both aerodynamic and thrust augmentation while the threats themselves have relied on equally increasing maneuvering defenses to avoid intercept. Because it is in the interest of defense systems to target the threat as early as possible, intercept locations in higher-altitude, more rarefied regimes have become necessary. Adding to this complexity are gas-particle interactions, ablation, ionization, and chemical kinetic effects, all of which have a first order effect on aero-optical and radar signature observables used for threat identification and targeting. Rapid development of defense technologies to meet these demands relies more and more on accurate modeling tools that must consider the increasingly complex, multi-disciplinary nature of the design problem. The present effort intends to leverage our existing multi-physics, hybrid continuum/rarefied, unsteady simulation tools to accurately predict aerodynamic/thrust augmented maneuvering forces, vehicle/exhaust plume flowfields, and observable signatures for maneuvering configurations that occur at altitudes where both continuum and rarefied physics must be modeled. Because a working simulation toolset already exists, more attention can focus on improving computational efficiency, robustness, hybrid interfacing, and practicality to provide a toolset responsive to commercial application.