Thermal Protection System Cavity Heating for Simplified and Actual Geometries Using Computational Fluid Dynamics Simulations with Unstructured Grids

摘要

Thermal Protection System (TPS) Cavity Heating is predicted using Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) on unstructured grids for both simplified cavities and actual cavity geometries. Validation was performed using comparisons to wind tunnel experimental results and CFD predictions using structured grids. Full-scale predictions were made for simplified and actual geometry configurations on the Space Shuttle Orbiter in a mission support timeframe.