Numerical simulation of supersonic flow past reentry capsules

Abstract

The flow fields over ARD (ESA's atmospheric reentry demonstrator), OREX (orbital reentry experiments) and spherically blunted cone-flare reentry configurations are numerically obtained by solving time-dependent, axisymmetric, compressible Navier–Stokes equations for freestream Mach numbers range of 1.2–6.0. The fluid dynamics are discretized in spatial coordinates employing a finite volume approach which reduces the governing equations to semi discretized ordinary differential equations. Temporal integration is performed using the multistage Runge–Kutta time-stepping scheme. A local time step is used to achieve steady-state solution. The numerical simulation is carried out on a structured grid. The flow-field features around the reentry capsule, such as bow shock wave, sonic line, expansion fan and recirculating flow in the base region are obtained. A good agreement is found between the calculated value of aerodynamic drag coefficient of the spherically blunted cone/fare reentry configuration with the experimental data. The effects of geometrical parameters, such as radius of the spherical cap, half cone angle, with sharp shoulder edge and with smooth shoulder edge on the flow-field have been numerically investigated for various reentry configuration which will be useful for optimization of the reentry capsule.