Simulating the interaction between a free‑flying ring and a curved shock wave: DLR results of the ESA ATD3‑Workshop 2022

Abstract

A free-flying ring crossing the curved bow shock in front of cylinder was selected as numerical test case within ESA’s Aerothermodynamics and Design for Demise working group in 2022. The experiment to compare with was carried out in the VKI Longshot gun tunnel facility at a free stream Mach number of about 14. This paper presents the DLR simulation results achieved by coupling the DLR in-house CFD solver TAU with a 6-DoF flight mechanic solver. Local dynamic grid adaptation is used to capture shocks and unsteady shock interactions. The results of the coupled simulation are compared to results of a simulation with prescribed motion using the experimental determined motion state as input, and to results of a flight mechanic simulation prescribing the measured aerodynamic forces and moments. Both the coupled and the forced motion simulation show similar values for the aerodynamic loads but higher than the measured ones. The flight mechanic simulation shows good agreement with the VKI experiments.