Computational Simulations of the Aerothermal Environment of Hypersonic Flight Vehicles

View Video Presentation: https://doi.org/10.2514/6.2021-1075.vid Hypersonic flows have long been a challenge to model due to the high mechanical and thermal loading experienced by the flight vehicle. The propulsion system, especially the inlet, is also an area of great concern when traveling at high Mach numbers. This paper is a computational effort to validate in-house flow solvers against experimental results on simple geometries that are similar in shape and size to critical areas on a hypersonic vehicle, such as the nose, wing leading edges, and inlet regions. This work will lay the groundwork for further computational research in this area of the flight regime, which will be used in conjunction with recent and new experimental work to address the major concerns of hypersonic flight such as aerodynamic characteristics, aerothermodynamics loading, and air-breathing propulsion system of vehicles.