The Influence of the Numerical Scheme in Predictions of Vortex Interaction about a Generic Missile Airframe

Abstract

Vortex dominated flows provide a challenge for modern computational fluid dynamics (CFD) solvers to accurately predict and capture the true physics of the flow. Modeling the formation and propagation of vortices downstream, as well as interactions with other vortices and shocks, are affected by a number of decisions including but not limited to the mesh generated, numerical scheme employed, and modelling assumptions. A research program has been underway for four years to study vortex interaction aerodynamics that are relevant to military air vehicle performance. The program has been conducted under the auspices of the NATO Science and Technology Organization (STO), Applied Vehicle Technology (AVT) panel by a Task Group with the identification of AVT-316. The paper at hand will look at the OTC1 test case [1], which is comprised of a generic missile configuration in supersonic flow, and the influence of the numerical scheme on the predicted results. The decision of the spatial discretization scheme, order of the turbulent flux, and choice of limiter were all shown to have strong influence on the predicted rolling moment of the OTC1 test case.