Computational Aerodynamic Optimisation of a 2D Space-Shuttle Geometry

Abstract

The need for cost minimisation in astronautical engineering, to help make human kind an interplanetary species, is not just limited to the flight and manufacturing of spacecraft. Hypersonic aerodynamic optimisation has been an expensive and time-consuming necessity since the beginning of the Apollo missions. A Boltzmann-BGK solver developed at Swansea University is utilised in this research. Firstly, a study was undertaken to determine how the results of an arbitrary simulation would vary depending on the number of nodes in the velocity space mesh, with the higher nodal number producing a more realistic temperature distribution. The best nodal configuration found was then used to find the best nose geometry for a space shuttle during hypersonic re-entry and ascent. An extension on the geometric variables (an increase in the space-shuttle length) was then simulated to evaluate how this changed drag results compared to an identical nose geometry with a shorter length; the results were found to be identical. Additionally, a study was undertaken to evaluate the effect of extending the outer boundary of the simulation from a half boundary to a full boundary encompassing the entire geometry, focusing on the temperature results, with a focus on the rear of the space shuttle. The full boundary extension was found to only change the temperature distribution at the rear of the geometry, the front portion of the geometry had an identical temperature distribution to the previous half-boundary simulation. Finally, the rear of the fully extended boundary simulation was altered to have a rounded rear, this was found to reduce the temperature distribution protruding from the rear.