Experimental Model Design and Preliminary Numerical Verification of Fluid–Thermal–Structural Coupling Problem

Abstract

Fluid–thermal–structural interactions in hypersonic flows is an extremely complex coupling problem, which puts forward higher requirements on the coupling calculation method and computational efficiency. It is of great significance to design a fluid–thermal–structural coupled ground test to verify the effectiveness of the coupling analysis tools. However, because of the demanding requirements of testing tools and equipment capabilities, no relevant research on full-coupling test has been reported. This study aims to design a reasonable test model, including the size, material, aerodynamic shape, and structure of the model, for verification of the fluid–thermal–structural coupling analysis tools. Based on existing materials and facilities, as well as coupling test requirements, the exploratory design of the test model is carried out. The feasibility of the model design is preliminarily verified using a stainless-steel model by a 10 s short-time test in the high-temperature hypersonic wind tunnel of China Aerodynamic Research and Development Center (CARDC) and in-house FL-CAPTER (Coupled Analysis Platform for Thermal Environment and Structure Response) platform, which is developed by CARDC. The 60 s long-time test model using superalloy is also calculated, which revealed that the effects of the fluid–thermal–structural coupling problem must be considered during the design of the new generation of airbreathing hypersonic vehicles.