Advancing Computational Methods for Supersonic Retropropulsion

A new methodology is presented for simulating flow environments produced during supersonic retropropulsion (SRP), the premier deceleration strategy by NASA to land larger payloads on Mars. SRP is a propulsive decent strategy that is executed by thrusting rocket engines during vehicle descent to decelerate the vehicle as it approaches the surface. The advancement of SRP, though, is contingent upon the accuracy of SRP simulation methods, since there is limited relevant SRP wind-tunnel test data or Mars flight data that could be used for design. Thus, SRP must be developed with the assistance of accurate simulation tools so that future vehicles and their thermal protection systems can be optimally designed for the Martian environment.

Existing simulation methods are unable to capture the complex flow environments produced during SRP and are unable to accurately discern dynamic and thermal loads over the full vehicle body. This work will address these inaccuracies by developing a critically needed simulation tool that will combine large-eddy simulation (LES) with higher-order methods, a novel wall-model formulation that accurately accounts for thermal effects in the boundary layer (WMLES), and embedded boundary methods (EBM) with adaptive mesh refinement (AMR) so as to reduce the computational cost. This proposed work will therefore yield a new simulation tool that can accurately resolve all aerothermodynamic loads to the structure, including proper prediction of flow attachment and reattachment locations, pressures, and temperatures. This will allow for optimized designs of the vehicle’s external geometry, control surfaces and systems, and thermal protective system. Furthermore, the success of this work will also extend to advancing simulation tools for other high-speed, high-enthalpy, multi-physics flow environments which can be found in several NASA air and space flight initiatives, including hypersonics.

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