Heat flux predictions for hypersonic flows with an overset near body solver on an adaptive block-structured Cartesian off-body grid

Abstract

The manual volume mesh generation process for body-fitted CFD codes can be a time-intensive process, particularly for complex flight vehicles. The work shown here presents a hybrid body-fitted/Cartesian overset CFD solver capable of automatic volume mesh generation capabilities and accurate surface heating predictions. The solver uses a body-conformal near body solver for capturing boundary layer effects and an off-body Cartesian solver with adaptive mesh refinement for shock and wake tracking within the CHAMPS CFD code. The formulated near body Cartesian solver is the first of its kind to be applied within the context of low and high enthalpy, hypersonic viscous flows. The developed solver is validated on a Mach 9.47 Mars Science Lander and a Mach 6 Orion Crew Exploration Vehicle in a low-enthalpy flow at various non-zero angles of attack followed by a Mach 25.2 AS-202 capsule at a 17.8-degree angle of attack for Earth re-entry. Validation is shown based on grid convergence studies as well as good agreement to available numerical and experimental data in consideration of surface heating and surface pressure predictions.