Numerical Study of the Subsonic Base Flow with a Side Support

Abstract

The base flow of a generic rocket configuration is investigated numerically with different levels of turbulence modeling. At the nominal flow conditions, the comparison of numerical results with the experiments shows significant deviations in the vertical plane where a side support stands. A simulation of the open test section indicates two necessities of correction. On the one hand, an C p increase of 0.015 is necessary to correlate the measured plenum pressure with the inflow location of the numerical simulation. On the other hand, a − 0.32° angle of attack modification should be accounted for a justified comparison between the DES results and the experiments. A strong sensitivity towards such small angles of attack has been observed later in the experiments but not in respective RANS solutions. The DES results agree well with the experiment based on the above-mentioned corrections.