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Numerical Simulation of Complex Hypersonic Flows

Abstract

Shock/shock and shockwave/ boundary layer interactions are important features of hypersonic flow fields. These features commonly motivate a considerable region of separation followed by reattachment. The pressure loads produced by the shock/shock and shock wave/ boundary layer interactions and the high heating loads encountered at reattachment play a significant role in control surface effectiveness and structural integrity of the hypersonic vehicle. Consequently, CFD tools are under improvement for predicting the details of such complex flows, combined with validating experiments and verifying against basic theoretical relations. In present studies, complex hypersonic flow test cases, namely, compression corner, backward step, and double cone, containing shock/shock and shock wave/ boundary layer interactions are solved by using two different schemes, namely, TVD and low dissipative high resolution artificial compression methods (ACM). Comparison of numerical results against the available experimental data shows that the low dissipative, high resolution ACM provides better results than the TVD scheme. Separation vortex size calculated by low dissipative high resolution ACM method is larger than the size of the separation vortex calculated by the TVD scheme, depicts that the low dissipative high resolution ACM method induces less numerical dissipation and therefore more appropriate for complex shock/shock and shock wave/ boundary layer interactions flows.

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