Numerical Simulation of Rocket Exhaust Interaction with Lunar Soil, Phase I

Rocket plume impingement may cause significant damage and contaminate co-landed spacecraft and surrounding habitat structures during Lunar landing operations. Under this proposed SBIR program, CFDRC and the University of Florida will develop an innovative high-fidelity simulation system for predicting surface erosion and debris transport caused by rocket plume impingement on lunar surface. This simulation system will combine 1) a unified continuum-rarefied flow solver capable of simulating plume impingement flow in lunar vacuum, 2) granular flow solid-fluid interaction technology for developing lunar soil grain erosion and debris particle release mechanism models, and 3) particle tracking tools to simulate debris kinetics, dispersion and contamination after liberation. In Phase I, the plume stagnation layer flow conditions at the soil surface will be modeled and computed. The solid-fluid interaction physics in the soil layer in response to this surface flow environment will be simulated and a generalized soil erosion model will be derived. The erosion model will then serve to prescribe debris mass and initial conditions for the debris-tracking module embedded in the flow solver. In Phase II, the individual modules will be combined into a single simulation system. The simulation system will be essential for predicting the severity and range of dust and debris transport and for designing lunar settlement layout, dust and debris impact mitigation measures. He will spend at least 35 % of his time on this project and his commitment to other projects is less than 50 %.

Many potential non-NASA commercial applications exist in civil and military industries. Dust, sand and snow stir-up during helicopter landing and take-off in a desert or artic environment result in severe visibility impairment (brown-out), windshield abrasion and danger of debris ingestion. Civil engineering and environmental engineering applications include wind-borne landscape erosion and dust transport to populated areas. The debris simulation tool will be of first order importance to the Space Exploration program for lunar robotic and human mission architecture definition. The tool will be equally applicable to follow-on Mars robotic and human missions. The developed technology will also be applicable for analysis of solid propulsion systems with embedded solid particle

This is a mature technology (TRL 7+) — the realistic path in is usually NASA's Technology Transfer Program: licensing an existing NASA patent, or a Space Act Agreement to use NASA facilities/expertise directly. NASA also runs a startup licensing program with no upfront fee for companies formed to commercialize a specific NASA technology.

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