High-Enthalpy Aerothermodynamics of a Mars Entry Vehicle Part 2: Computational Results

Numerical solutions for hypersonic  ows of carbon dioxide and air around a 70-deg sphere–cone Mars entry vehicle conŽ guration were computed using a laminar, axisymmetric, nonequilibrium Navier–Stokes solver with freestream  ow conditions equivalent to those of aerothermodynamic tests conducted in a high-enthalpy impulse facility. The wake  owŽ eld computations were found to be much more sensitive to both grid resolution and grid adaptationthan the forebody results. The wake computations showed the existence of a region of separated, steady, recirculating  ow behind the vehicle. Whereas the rapid expansion of the  ow around the corner of the vehicle resulted in a wake that was mostly frozen both chemically and vibrationally, the degree of  ow expansion was not great enough to produce noncontinuum ow behavior. Comparisons between computational and experimental surface heating distributionswere within the estimated experimental uncertainty for both cases except around the forebody stagnation point and the free-shear-layer reattachment point for the air case and within a small portion of the wake recirculation vortex for the carbon dioxide case.

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