A FINITE ELEMENT HEAT TRANSFER ANALYSIS SYSTEM FOR SIMULATION OF FLIGHT VEHICLES

PREDICTING THE PERFORMANCE OF A HYPERSONIC AERO-SPACECRAFT SUCH AS THE NATIONAL AERO-SPACE PLANE (NASP) IS DIFFICULT BECAUSE OF CURRENT TECHNOLOGICAL LIMITATIONS. WIND TUNNELS TO RUN HIGH MACH FLIGHTS TO GET DATA ON AIRFLOW, ROLL RATE, AND SHOCK STRUCTURES ARE NOT AVAILABLE. NUMERICAL SIMULATION BASED ON THE FINITE-ELEMENT SOLUTION TECHNIQUE OFFERS A VIABLE, RAPID, ACCURATE APPROACH FOR PREDICTING FLIGHT CHARACTERISTICS NEEDED FOR DESIGN, FOR INTERPRETING FLIGHT-TEST RESULTS, AND FOR ENSURING SAFETY DURING FLIGHT-ENVELOPE EXPANSION. SUCH FLIGHT CHARACTERISTICS ARE HIGHLY NONLINEAR AND COMPLEX DUE TO INHERENT INTERACTIONS OFSEVERAL CONSTITUENT DISCIPLINES SUCH AS STRUCTURES, HEAT TRANSFER, MATERIALS, FLUID DYNAMICS, CONTROLS, PROPULSION, AND OTHERS. FURTHER, THE RELEVANT ANALYSIS REQUIRES EXTENSIVE SUPER-COMPUTING EFFORT. CONSEQUENTLY, SEVERAL ESSENTIAL DISCIPLINES AS WELL AS EFFICIENT SOLUTION TECHNIQUES WILL BE INCORPORATED IN AN INTEGRATED, VEHICLE-FLIGHT SIMULATION SYSTEM. PHASE I ACTIVITIES WILL FOCUS ON DEVELOPING METHODOLOGIES FOR NONLINEAR HEAT-TRANSFER SIMULATION CAPABILITIES. THE DEVELOPMENT OF ACOMPLETE HEAT-TRANSFER ANALYSIS SYSTEM AS WELL AS EFFICIENT ALGORITHMS FOR CAPTURING SHOCKS, SEPARATED FLOWS, AND VORTICES IN HYPERSONIC FLOWS AND ADAPTIVE, AUTOMATIC MESH-GENERATION TECHNIQUES WILL BE ADDRESSED IN PHASE II. PREDICTING THE PERFORMANCE OF A HYPERSONIC AERO-SPACECRAFT SUCH AS THE NATIONAL AERO-SPACE PLANE (NASP) IS DIFFICULT BECAUSE OF CURRENT TECHNOLOGICAL LIMITATIONS. WIND TUNNELS TO RUN HIGH MACH FLIGHTS TO GET DATA ON AIRFLOW, ROLL RATE, AND SHOCK STRUCTURES ARE NOT AVAILABLE. NUMERICAL SIMULATION BASED ON THE FINITE-ELEMENT SOLUTION TECHNIQUE OFFERS A VIABLE, RAPID, ACCURATE APPROACH FOR PREDICTING FLIGHT CHARACTERISTICS NEEDED FOR DESIGN, FOR INTERPRETING FLIGHT-TEST RESULTS, AND FOR ENSURING SAFETY DURING FLIGHT-ENVELOPE EXPANSION. SUCH FLIGHT CHARACTERISTICS ARE HIGHLY NONLINEAR AND COMPLEX DUE TO INHERENT INTERACTIONS OFSEVERAL CONSTITUENT DISCIPLINES SUCH AS STRUCTURES, HEAT TRANSFER, MATERIALS, FLUID DYNAMICS, CONTROLS, PROPULSION, AND OTHERS. FURTHER, THE RELEVANT ANALYSIS REQUIRES EXTENSIVE SUPER-COMPUTING EFFORT. CONSEQUENTLY, SEVERAL ESSENTIAL DISCIPLINES AS WELL AS EFFICIENT SOLUTION TECHNIQUES WILL BE INCORPORATED IN AN INTEGRATED, VEHICLE-FLIGHT SIMULATION SYSTEM. PHASE I ACTIVITIES WILL FOCUS ON DEVELOPING METHODOLOGIES FOR NONLINEAR HEAT-TRANSFER SIMULATION CAPABILITIES. THE DEVELOPMENT OF ACOMPLETE HEAT-TRANSFER ANALYSIS SYSTEM AS WELL AS EFFICIENT ALGORITHMS FOR CAPTURING SHOCKS, SEPARATED FLOWS, AND VORTICES IN HYPERSONIC FLOWS AND ADAPTIVE, AUTOMATIC MESH-GENERATION TECHNIQUES WILL BE ADDRESSED IN PHASE II.