Title: Aerodynamic and aerothermodynamic analysis of high-speed earth re-entry capsule

Authors: Giuseppe Pezzella; Eduardo Trifoni

Addresses: Centro Italiano Ricerche Aerospaziali (CIRA), via Maiorise, 81043 Capua, Italy ' Centro Italiano Ricerche Aerospaziali (CIRA), via Maiorise, 81043 Capua, Italy

Abstract: This paper deals with the computational fluid dynamics analysis of a capsule entering the earth atmosphere at the end of a sample return mission. Several numerical simulations have been carried out to assess the flowfield environment past a sphere-cone capsule, by using non-equilibrium reacting gas approximations. Heat shield ablation and effects of flow plasma radiation on capsule aeroheating are also accounted for in the flowfield analysis. The issue of aerodynamic and aerothermodynamic performance of the entry spacecraft in the framework of a super-orbital re-entry scenario is addressed.

Keywords: computational fluid dynamics; CFD; flow field plasma radiation; heat shield ablation; hypersonic aerodynamics; hypersonic aerothermodynamics; hypersonic flow; reacting flow; sample returning missions; super-orbital re-entry; high speed re-entry; earth re-entry capsules; space missions; numerical simulation; space exploration; non-equilibrium reacting gas approximations; aerodynamic heating; entry spacecraft.

DOI: 10.1504/IJAD.2015.074623

International Journal of Aerodynamics, 2015 Vol.5 No.1, pp.34 - 68

Received: 19 Feb 2015
Accepted: 20 Feb 2015
Published online: 09 Feb 2016 *

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