Aerothermodynamic analysis of HIFiRE 8 hypersonic flight test vehicle

A method for predicting the aerodynamic heating loads acting on hypersonic vehicles is presented. A one-dimensional semi-empirical method known as the reference temperature method is used to calculate the viscous heat transfer into the aero-shell. In order to solve the for the heat transfer, the local flow conditions must be known and these are determined from a threedimensional inviscid cfd solution. The aim of the work is to develop robust and generic methods for mapping the three-dimensional cfd solutions onto one-dimensional domains used in engineering heat transfer correlations. The method is applied to the hypersonic flight vehicle referred to as HIFiRE 8 and predictions of the aerodynamic and heating loads are presented.