Particulate and Precipitation Effects on High-speed Flight Vehicles
Abstract
Hypersonic flight induces extreme aerothermal loads on a vehicle. As a result, material selection and understanding material response to aerothermal loading is important. Significant advancements have been made in experimental testing of such high-temperature materials and predictive computational modeling of hypersonic flow and material response. However, the presence of particles in the atmosphere and the potential for a vehicle to fly through precipitation at low altitudes is known to cause substantial damage to flight materials. The physics involved when particles and droplets are introduced into a hypersonic flow and impact thermal protection materials at velocities above 1 km/s, has not been adequately studied and significant uncertainty exists. This project assembles a team of researchers in the fields of rarefied gas dynamics, aerosol science and aerosol particle impact experiments, multiphase flows and liquid particle dynamics, hypersonic wind tunnel and light-gas-gun experiments, and computational fluid dynamics, material damage, and material response. Through a series of joint computational and experimental campaigns, the proposed research will target the dynamics of small particle impacts at high altitudes and larger-sized precipitation impacts and subsequent damage evolution at low altitudes. This effort will result in an unprecedented advancement in the understanding of multi-phase hypersonic flows and material response in Earths atmosphere.
Document Details
- Document Type
- DoD Grant Award
- Publication Date
- Jun 17, 2020
- Source ID
- N000142012682
Entities
People
- Thomas Schwartzentruber
Organizations
- Office of Naval Research
- Regents of the University of Minnesota
- United States Navy