Power-On Missile Stage Separation Simulation

The proposed Phase I effort involves the formulation of innovative technical approaches for accurately simulating the transient power-on separation event for a two stage, supersonic/hypersonic missile. Our starting point for analyzing power on missile stage separation involves the use of both structured and unstructured grid Navier-Stokes codes which were used to support the KEI separation problem and validated with relevant shock tunnel data. The recent work that we performed for the power-on stage separation problem provided us with unique insights into the limitations of CFD to support the design and evaluation of stage separation concepts and design details. This program initiates work to improve the CFD codes by focusing on areas where major deficiencies were observed. These include numerical methodology, turbulence modeling, chemical kinetics for afterburning, and particulate modeling (impingement of molten particles and associated wall interactions). The upgraded CFD capabilities developed in this effort will be applied in Phase II to demonstrate that they improve comparisons with available test data.