MULTIBLOCK ANALYSIS FOR SHUTTLE ORBITER REENTRY HEATING FROM MACH 24 TO MACH 12

A multiblock, laminar heating analysis for the Shuttle Orbiter at three trajectory points ranging from Mach 24.3 to Mach 12.86 on re-entry is described. The analysis is performed using the Langley Aerothermodynamic Upwind Relaxation Algorithm with a seven species chemical nonequilibrium model. A finite-catalytic-wall model appropriate for shuttle tiles at a radiative equilibrium wall temperature is applied. Computed heating levels are generally in good agreement with the flight data, although a few rather large discrepancies remain unexplained. The multiblock relaxation strategy partitions the flowfield into manageable blocks requiring a fraction of the computational resources (time and memory) required by a full domain approach. In fact, the computational cost for a solution at even a single trajectory point would be prohibitively expensive at the given resolution without the multiblock approach. Converged blocks are reassembled to enable a fully coupled converged solution over the entire vehicle, starting from a nearly converged initial condition.