Fokker-Planck particle simulation of an upper stage geometry with plume

Kurzfassung

Our goal is the aerodynamic and aerothermal simulation of space transport systems at high altitudes. The Fokker-Planck particle simulations are a good method as they combine the modelling of non-equilibrium effects at low densities with a good computational performance at higher densities. We are investigating the applicability of our in-house implementation of the Fokker-Planck particle method for full size vehicles. In this work we extend our modelling by adding the simulation of an exhaust plume. To our knowledge, this is the first time a full upper stage with plume has been simulated using the Fokker-Planck method. The RFZ-ST2 open source upper stage geometry is used for 2D simulations. We investigate the flow field and compare the Fokker-Plank simulations to Navier-Stokes simulations near the limit of the continuum regime. We show a good first comparison of the plume between the two simulation methods.