A Fully-Automated Simulation Approach for Maneuvering Hypersonic Weapons

The proposed modeling and simulation approach aims to bridge the gap in terms of accuracy and cost between 3D Computational Fluid Dynamics solvers and currently available design tools. The Hypersonic Flow Analysis Tool (HyperFAT) will combine 3D Euler simulations using a higher-order immersed boundary method with viscous corrections to account for boundary layers. In addition, wall-modeled Reynolds Averaged Navier-Stokes solver within immersed boundary method framework will be further developed to also provide a higher fidelity simulation capability. The use of the immersed boundary method enables a high degree of automation and the ability to handle complex geometries. The governing equations will be solved using a Cartesian adaptive mesh refinement (AMR) method which leads to a fast numerical method. The viscous correction method will be based on the most recent theoretical developments for hypersonic turbulent boundary layers, which will improve accuracy over the current state-of-the-art in design tools. The significance to the Navy of this flow analysis tool is that a more accurate modeling and simulation methodology during the conceptual design phase will allow for more aggressive designs and will reduce the need for physical testing in the later stages of the development cycle.