CFD modeling of hypervelocity re-entry flows including gas radiation

Abstract

Space exploration missions may include atmospheric entries at high velocities (e.g. sample-return, hyperbolic entries) or into an atmosphere with highly radiative constituents (e.g. Jupiter, Titan). The energy transport by gas radiation can become significant at such flow conditions and requires adequate modeling. This paper describes a Monte-Carlo based method to solve the radiative transfer equation. The resulting energy sources are coupled to a CFD solver to account for the additional mechanism of radiative energy transport. This approach is validated using a canonical test problem and applied to the FIRE II flight experiment configuration.