DSMC study of hypersonic ablation using SPARTA

Ablative TPSs (Thermal Protection System) are used to reduce the heat load on vehicles during atmospheric reentry. In the literature, extensive efforts were made to study ablation in the continuum regime with Navier-Stokes solver. As for the rarefied regime in high altitudes, the continuum assumption is no longer valid and the application of DSMC (Direct Simulation Monte Carlo) becomes highly desirable. In the present work, an open-source DSMC kernel SPARTA is employed to study the surface ablation of hypersonic vehicles. The primary goal is to conduct a more realistic simulation of the ablation process by taking relevant physical factors, such as the particle kinetic energy, into consideration. For that purpose, changes to the existing kinetic energy flux ablation model were implemented. The simulation results show that the flow structures are instantaneously adapted to the ablated surfaces and that the improved model enables a better description of the ablation process.     «

Ablative TPSs (Thermal Protection System) are used to reduce the heat load on vehicles during atmospheric reentry. In the literature, extensive efforts were made to study ablation in the continuum regime with Navier-Stokes solver. As for the rarefied regime in high altitudes, the continuum assumption is no longer valid and the application of DSMC (Direct Simulation Monte Carlo) becomes highly desirable. In the present work, an open-source DSMC kernel SPARTA is employed to study the surfa...     »