Transient aero-thermal analysis of high speed vehicles using CFD

The viscous dissipation within boundary layers of high speed vehicle creates high skin temperatures. Designing of an appropriate thermal protection system requires computation of thermal loads which would be experienced by vehicle during its flight trajectory. The objective of the present work is to develop a methodology for transient aerothermal analysis of high speed vehicle. The most appropriate method for predicting aerodynamic heating is computational fluid dynamics solution (CFD). Solid-Fluid coupling and transient boundary condition capabilities of CFD software FLUENT are used to develop required methodology. The available X-15 flight data is used for its validation. Temperature transients are calculated for complete flight trajectory of X-15 at wing mid-span chord location and compared with available flight data at stagnation, 4%, 20%, and 46% chord locations. The results obtained for skin temperatures at different locations are found both qualitatively and quantitatively in good agreement with in-flight data. This validates the methodology utilized in modeling the transient aero-thermal analysis of high speed vehicles. This method could be very useful in predicting the aerodynamic heating loads of high speed vehicles.