Validation Datasets for Simulating Hypersonic Glide Vehicles

Abstract: This paper presents a validation study of three numerical aerodynamic tools; a panel method, a Euler solver (CART3D) and a Reynolds-Averaged Navier-Stokes (RANS) solver (Fluent). Each of these tools applies different assumptions to simplify the flow field, and while the run-time between methods differs by an order of magnitude, an understanding of the range of validity of each is imperative. The numerical models are compared with flight data from the SHEFEX-II flight experiment; specifically, the measured pressures at four Mach numbers, the highest of which is 8.98. It is shown that for this geometry, the RANS and Euler solvers perform equally well in the mid- to high-supersonic domain with the panel code predicting the right trend with an offset. However, at the highest Mach number condition, the pressure prediction from the panel code compares more favourably with flight data than the CART3D and Fluent predictions. Keywords: Navier-Stokes equations, Hypersonic flows, Validation, Flight data