Rarefied Flow Field Analysis
on a Re-entry Vehicle
M. Abhay, Vinod Kumar, Aaditya Chaphalkar, and Jiju Justus
Abstract Rarefied flow field analysis has been carried out on a re-entry vehicle
(REV) for an altitude of 105 km. DSMC-based solver was used to calculate pressure, drag, temperature and heat-flux. A blunt nose re-entry vehicle (REV) was used
for the analysis in a rarefied flow field. The flow was considered to be in chemical and
thermal non-equilibrium. 11 species (N 2 , O 2 , NO, N
+
2 , O
+
2 , NO
+
, N, N
+
, O, O
+ and
e
− ) model for gas composition was used with total of 47 chemical reactions. Observations were also made for the existence of shockwave, change in shock thickness and its
properties. It was observed that there is a small variation in chemically non-reacting
and reacting (chemically non-equilibrium) flow. The existence of shockwave can
only be predicted by means of observations of properties such as temperature, pressure and density as the rarefaction is more. No clear distinct region of discontinuity
was seen in the flow field and temperature and pressure field shows sudden variations
in properties. Drag profile is fairly constant for both the conditions. Although the
temperature is very large, the heat-flux to the body was found to be very less.
Keywords Shockwave · DSMC · Rarefied region · Chemical reactions ·
Heat-flux · Chemical reaction (CR) · Non-chemical reaction (NCR)
M. Abhay
Defence Institute of Advanced Technology (DIAT), Pune, India
e-mail: abhaymeshram111@gmail.com
V. Kumar (B) · A. Chaphalkar (B) · J. Justus (B)
CFDD/AERO, ISRO (VSSC), Thiruvananthapuram, India
e-mail: vinodkgul@gmail.com
A. Chaphalkar
e-mail: aaditya.chaphalkar@gmail.com
J. Justus
e-mail: jiju6justus@gmail.com
© The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive license
to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2021
N. Gascoin and E. Balasubramanian (eds.), Innovative Design, Analysis
and Development Practices in Aerospace and Automotive Engineering, Lecture Notes
in Mechanical Engineering, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-15-6619-6_57
521
on a Re-entry Vehicle
M. Abhay, Vinod Kumar, Aaditya Chaphalkar, and Jiju Justus
Abstract Rarefied flow field analysis has been carried out on a re-entry vehicle
(REV) for an altitude of 105 km. DSMC-based solver was used to calculate pressure, drag, temperature and heat-flux. A blunt nose re-entry vehicle (REV) was used
for the analysis in a rarefied flow field. The flow was considered to be in chemical and
thermal non-equilibrium. 11 species (N 2 , O 2 , NO, N
+
2 , O
+
2 , NO
+
, N, N
+
, O, O
+ and
e
− ) model for gas composition was used with total of 47 chemical reactions. Observations were also made for the existence of shockwave, change in shock thickness and its
properties. It was observed that there is a small variation in chemically non-reacting
and reacting (chemically non-equilibrium) flow. The existence of shockwave can
only be predicted by means of observations of properties such as temperature, pressure and density as the rarefaction is more. No clear distinct region of discontinuity
was seen in the flow field and temperature and pressure field shows sudden variations
in properties. Drag profile is fairly constant for both the conditions. Although the
temperature is very large, the heat-flux to the body was found to be very less.
Keywords Shockwave · DSMC · Rarefied region · Chemical reactions ·
Heat-flux · Chemical reaction (CR) · Non-chemical reaction (NCR)
M. Abhay
Defence Institute of Advanced Technology (DIAT), Pune, India
e-mail: abhaymeshram111@gmail.com
V. Kumar (B) · A. Chaphalkar (B) · J. Justus (B)
CFDD/AERO, ISRO (VSSC), Thiruvananthapuram, India
e-mail: vinodkgul@gmail.com
A. Chaphalkar
e-mail: aaditya.chaphalkar@gmail.com
J. Justus
e-mail: jiju6justus@gmail.com
© The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive license
to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2021
N. Gascoin and E. Balasubramanian (eds.), Innovative Design, Analysis
and Development Practices in Aerospace and Automotive Engineering, Lecture Notes
in Mechanical Engineering, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-15-6619-6_57
521