The effect of the conductive layer on the thermal properties of damaged orbiter TPS panel

Abstract

The content of the article concerns the analysis of heat insulating material of the thermal protection system, which is related to aerodynamic heating during atmospheric reentry by spacecraft. The example of the heat flux distribution as a function of flight time for analysis is used. The purpose of the article is to investigate the effect on the results of the new material of model with relatively high thermal conductivity coefficient across the isolating tile. It is considered that it may allow to compensate the temperature on the surface of underlying structure. The article contains the comparison of two types of thermal analysis of selected insulating tile models. The first case assumed that the models contain only three layers, e.g. insulation, strain isolator pad and underlying structure. In the second analysis, calculations are based on models consisting of four layers. Due to the good thermal properties as the additional material titanium alloy is selected. All analyses take into account two types of models: undamaged and damaged tiles. The conclusions contain graphs of maximum temperature distribution in function of time on the surfaces of selected layers. The results allowed to determine the temperature difference calculated on the basis of the considered of both cases.