Numerical Simulations of Hypersonic Real-Gas Flows Over Space Vehicles

Hypersonic flows over simple 3-D bodies and a space vehicle are simulated using a real-gas Navier- Stokes code under an equilibrium air assumption. This code is based on 3-D upwind flux splitting scheme with generalized Roe's Riemann solver. The real-gas effect is incorporated using the VEG (Variable Equivalent Gamma) method [1]*. The equivalent gamma and other thermodynamic properties are calculated using empirical curve fits [2].

Numerical simulations are conducted for flow fields around a spherical blunt body, a spherical-nose cylinder, and a cone-cylinder as simple configurations, and HOPE (H-orbiting plane: Japanese spaceplane) as a practical plane configuration. Flow conditons are Mach numbers of 7.72, 15.0 for the blunt bodies, 6.86 for the cone-cylinder, and 15.0 for the HOPE. Computed pressure and density distributions are presented. Results for simple configuration cases are compared with experimental data for the code validation.