Nonequilibrium flow through porous thermal protection materials, Part I: Numerical methods

Eric C. Stern; Savio Poovathingal; Ioannis Nompelis; Thomas E. Schwartzentruber; Graham V. Candler

doi:10.1016/j.jcp.2017.09.011

Nonequilibrium flow through porous thermal protection materials, Part I: Numerical methods

Eric C. Stern, Savio Poovathingal, Ioannis Nompelis, Thomas E. Schwartzentruber, Graham V. Candler

Aerospace Engineering and Mechanics

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

34 Scopus citations

Abstract

Numerical methods are developed to simulate high temperature gas flow and coupled surface reactions, relevant to porous thermal protection systems used by hypersonic vehicles. Due to the non-continuum nature of these flows, the direct simulation Monte Carlo (DSMC) method is used, and the computational complexity of the simulations presents a number of unique challenges. Strategies for parallel partitioning, interprocessor communication, complex microstructure geometry representation, cutcell procedures, and parallel file input/output are presented and tested. Algorithms and data structures are developed for a microstructure generation tool called FiberGen that enables realistic microstructures to be constructed based on targeted fiber radius, orientation, and overall porosity, with user defined variations about these values. The data structures and algorithms associated with FiberGen are robust and efficient enough to enable DSMC simulations where the microstructure geometry changes to directly simulate ablation problems. Subsonic boundary conditions are described and validated, and a number of example solutions are presented. The example problems demonstrate the difference between surface ablation and in-depth volume ablation regimes for porous TPS materials.

Original language	English (US)
Pages (from-to)	408-426
Number of pages	19
Journal	Journal of Computational Physics
Volume	380
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jcp.2017.09.011
State	Published - Mar 1 2019

Bibliographical note

Funding Information:
Eric Stern was supported through a NASA Space Technology Research Fellowship under NASA Grant # NNX11AN42H . Savio Poovathingal would like to acknowledge support through Doctoral Dissertation Fellowship from University of Minnesota. This work was also supported by the U.S. Air Force Office of Scientific Research (AFOSR) under Multidisciplinary University Research Initiative (MURI) grant FA9550-10-1-0563 . The views and conclusions contained herein are those of the authors and should not be interpreted as necessarily representing the official policies or endorsements, either expressed or implied, of the AFOSR or the U.S. Government.

Publisher Copyright:
© 2017 Elsevier Inc.

Keywords

Ablation
Numerical simulation
Porous media
Rarefied flow
Thermal protection systems

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abstract = "Numerical methods are developed to simulate high temperature gas flow and coupled surface reactions, relevant to porous thermal protection systems used by hypersonic vehicles. Due to the non-continuum nature of these flows, the direct simulation Monte Carlo (DSMC) method is used, and the computational complexity of the simulations presents a number of unique challenges. Strategies for parallel partitioning, interprocessor communication, complex microstructure geometry representation, cutcell procedures, and parallel file input/output are presented and tested. Algorithms and data structures are developed for a microstructure generation tool called FiberGen that enables realistic microstructures to be constructed based on targeted fiber radius, orientation, and overall porosity, with user defined variations about these values. The data structures and algorithms associated with FiberGen are robust and efficient enough to enable DSMC simulations where the microstructure geometry changes to directly simulate ablation problems. Subsonic boundary conditions are described and validated, and a number of example solutions are presented. The example problems demonstrate the difference between surface ablation and in-depth volume ablation regimes for porous TPS materials.",

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author = "Stern, {Eric C.} and Savio Poovathingal and Ioannis Nompelis and Schwartzentruber, {Thomas E.} and Candler, {Graham V.}",

note = "Funding Information: Eric Stern was supported through a NASA Space Technology Research Fellowship under NASA Grant # NNX11AN42H . Savio Poovathingal would like to acknowledge support through Doctoral Dissertation Fellowship from University of Minnesota. This work was also supported by the U.S. Air Force Office of Scientific Research (AFOSR) under Multidisciplinary University Research Initiative (MURI) grant FA9550-10-1-0563 . The views and conclusions contained herein are those of the authors and should not be interpreted as necessarily representing the official policies or endorsements, either expressed or implied, of the AFOSR or the U.S. Government. Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} 2017 Elsevier Inc.",

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Nonequilibrium flow through porous thermal protection materials, Part I: Numerical methods

Abstract

Bibliographical note

Keywords

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