Appraisal of Aerodynamics and Aerothermodynamics of RFS and LFBB (LOx/CH4) ESA Future Launchers Preparatory Program Concepts

Abstract

In the frame of the Future Launchers Preparatory Program, carried out by the European Space Agency, several Reusable Launch Vehicle concepts are under investigation. In this paper the current design activities at Phase-A level, carried out by Centro Italiano Ricerche Aerospaziali, are described concerning, in particular, the two concepts RFS and LFBB (LOx/CH4). The goal has been to define the preliminary aerodynamic and aerothermodynamic data-base of each vehicle for concepts competition. To this scope, different design approaches have been addressed as engineering-based methods and Computational Fluid Dynamics. Results provided in the paper show that, for both the concepts, the aerodynamic and aerothermodynamic analyses performed through a threedimensional panel methods code, based on local surface inclination methods typical of hypersonics, are reliable for vehicles’ preliminary design scopes. Indeed, several Computational Fluid Dynamics simulations, performed at different flight conditions along the descent trajectory, show that a proper margin of about 10 % for aerodynamics and 30 % for aerothermodynamics characterize the engineering-based and CFD result comparisons.