Aerodynamic Characteristics of Three-Dimensional Membrane Aeroshells in Supersonic Flow

Abstract

Re-entry vehicles with a membrane aeroshell show potential as an innovative re-entry concept because of low weight and °exibility. However, the aerodynamic characteristics of elastic systems are not understood completely, especially in supersonic or hypersonic °ow. In order to investigate the aerodynamic characteristics of a vehicle with a membrane aeroshell in supersonic °ow, supersonic wind tunnel experiments and numerical simulations are conducted. The model, which consists of a rigid spherical nose and a frustum aeroshell made from an elastic membrane, is used for these experiments. The results show that the deformation of the membrane depends mainly on the nondimensional aero-elasticity parameter CAE , which represents the ratio of the aerodynamic force to the elastic force. The frustum membrane aeroshell is stretched due to aerodynamic force, and reduction in the drag coe±cient occurs when CAE increases. The aerodynamic coe±cients of the membrane aeroshell model are less sensitive to the angle of attack than the rigid aeroshell model, because a membrane aeroshell tends to turn into the freestream direction through elastic deformation. A computational model combining membrane dynamics with a numerical °ow analysis is developed. A three-dimensional particle-based membrane model is developed and used for the simulation of membrane dynamics. The °ow solution is obtained by Newtonian °ow analysis and Navier-Stokes analysis. The results are qualitatively in a good agreement with the experimental data. NOMENCLATURE CAE : aero-elasticity parameter 3 = L1⁄21u1 Eh0 CEI : elastic-inertial parameter 3 = E