A Four-Field Computational Framework for the Aerothermomechanical Analysis of Hypersonic Vehicles

Hypersonic systems for space access and with strike capability are currently being researched by the Air Force. Flight testing and clearing them is particularly challenging, because of the speeds at which they operate. When anything unexpected occurs, the time to react is so short that the tested system must be destroyed. Therefore, the predictive analysis of these systems is essential for determining their stability, and their structural integrity throughout their flight phases. Hypersonic vehicles distinguish themselves from conventional subsonic, transonic, and low-supersonic airframes not only by the complexity of ~heir aerodynamics, but also by their aerothermodynamic input due to a thermal protection system and/ or ablation, by all movable control surface motions, panel vibrations, and by the complexity of their flight conditions and flight trajectories. For all these reasons, the predictive analysis of hypersonic systems hinges on the availability of a modern, high-fidelity, aerothermomechanical simulation capability. To this effect, the main objective of this proposal is to develop a four-field computational framework for rigorously integrating the latest advances in computational fluid dynamics, moving grids, solid mechanics and structural dynamics, and t hermomechanics that pertain to hypersonic systems. The proposed approach centers around a four-field formulation of aerothermoelastic problems, conservative discretization of transmission conditions on non-matching discrete interfaces, discrete conservation laws for constructing and analyzing higher-order unsteady flow solvers on unstructured moving grids, and an original energy-based concept for designing and analyzing computationally efficient algorithms for the solution of coupled large-scale systems of ordinary differential *Phone: (650) 723-3840Fax: (650) 725-3525 email: [email protected]