An Integrated High Altitude Plume/Hardbody Interaction Model

This Phase I study will demonstrate the feasibility and utility of integrating several advanced simulation technologies for modeling missile plume and hardbody flowfield/thermal response interactions, for the purpose of accurately computing combined plume/hardbody IR signatures with a specific emphasis on transient plume-related events which occur at high altitudes. The SOCRATES-P Direct Simulation Monte Carlo (DSMC) code, which will be utilized for calculating plume flowfields at altitudes > 90 km, will be coupled to existing government owned/developed models for six-degree-of-freedom trajectory dynamics, material thermal response, aeroheating, and aerodynamics to perform a complete simulation package capable of including all pertinent physical effects related to combined missile hardbody/plume IR signatures at high altitudes. Requirements and program design for the signature modeling tool will be developed and demonstrated in Phase I, with subsequent code development and validation being the focus of Phase II.