Thermal Aeroelastic Characteristics of Inflatable Reentry Vehicle Experiment (IRVE) in Hypersonic Flow

Abstract

The inflatable reentry vehicle provides a new technical way in aerospace entry, descent, and landing. The structural failure of inflatable reentry vehicle experiment caused by thermal aeroelastic effect is serious, which needs to be further studied. A traditional numerical method about flexible vehicles separates the aeroheating and aeroelastic problems, resulting in poor matching with the actual test. In this paper, a thermal-fluid-solid coupling model considering inflation gas effect was established, which associates the aeroheating and aeroelastic modules and adopts the LES to improve the depicting ability of hypersonic flow. The model was used to solve the thermal aeroelastic characteristics under extreme aeroheating load. From aeroheating results, the large-scale vortex on windward generated by the interaction of the shock layer and boundary layer has great influence on aeroheating due to the heat dissipation, and the skin deformation also increases the surface friction and local heating near depressions. From aeroelastic analysis, the flexible structure performs violent forced vibration induced by the unsteady large-scale vortex on windward, and the aeroheating effect will significantly increase the thermal stress and natural vibration properties. The thermal-fluid-solid coupling method for the flexible structure proposed in this paper provides a reasonable reference for engineering.