Flow and radiation modeling over a Martian entry vehicle

Abstract

The high-temperature shock layer around re-entry vehicles strongly emits radiation through atomic lines and molecular bands. Radiative heat transfer strongly affects boundary layer flow and heat transfer. A novel spectral model based on k-distribution is implemented and coupled with a hypersonic flow solver in OpenFOAM to simulate heat transfer over a Martian entry vehicle. The Navier-Stokes equations with finite rate chemistry are used to model hypersonic chemically reacting flows. The convective terms in the governing equations are treated with various flux schemes (HLL, AUSM+, Kurganov, and Tadmor). The non-gray radiative properties of shock layer gases were modeled with the Emission-weighted Full Spectrum k-distribution (EFSK) method. The Radiative Transfer Equation (RTE) is solved with the P1 radiative solver to calculate the wall heat flux and radiative heat source term. At a high Mach number, the radiative heat flux is dominant compared to the convective heat flux. The numerical results for Mach number 26 are compared with published data and are found to be in good agreement. All the flux schemes provided results in close agreement, with minor differences, especially near the wall for the AUSM+ flux scheme.