2D Aerodynamic Analysis of a Badminton Shuttle for Re-Entry Vehicle Applications

摘要

Interplanetary missions have had many challenges associated with several coupled issues. The Mars Curiosity rover mission represents the limit of the current technology using rigid "aeroshells" and supersonic parachutes. One of the main challenges to overcome in these missions is the Entry, Descent, and Landing (EDL) phase. The Martian atmosphere does not contain the density to provide enough drag to slow down a heavy entry vehicle using conventional designs. As a result, Mars entry vehicles have been constrained to land at lower surface elevations. The landing uncertainty of those entry vehicles represents a limitation that needs to be improved upon by several orders of magnitude. Therefore, we need to consider the unique and unusual designs that will provide significant improvements in landing accuracy. Mainly in maximizing aerodynamic braking and minimizing the complexity associated with retro-propulsion. In this research, we focus on characterizing the aerodynamic performance, such as lift and drag forces and moments, on the new concept design like a Badminton Shuttle using Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) simulations. Due to limited resources, a two-dimensional shuttle is considered at the different range of Reynolds numbers, which is consistent with wind tunnel data. The results depict specific vorticity contours to understand the flow characteristics of the vortex shedding behind the shuttle. The time history of the lift-coefficient shows a link between the vortex generation and shedding at the instant time. The results indicate the 2D shuttle is inherently stable, just like its 3D geometric counterpart. Force and moments show similar consistent trends when compared to the 3D model.