Hypersonic Aerothermodynamics Skill

Purpose

Provide specialized hypersonic vehicle aerodynamic and thermal analysis capabilities including real gas effects, aerodynamic heating, and thermal protection system design.

Capabilities

• High-temperature gas dynamics
• Real gas effects modeling
• Aerodynamic heating prediction
• Thermal protection system sizing
• Shock-boundary layer interaction
• Ablation modeling
• Transition prediction (hypersonic)
• Chemically reacting flow analysis

Usage Guidelines

• Account for real gas and chemical non-equilibrium effects
• Use appropriate turbulence models for hypersonic boundary layers
• Predict transition location and heating augmentation
• Size TPS with adequate margins for heating uncertainty
• Consider ablation effects on aerodynamic shape
• Validate predictions against ground test data where available

Dependencies

• High-fidelity CFD codes
• Real-gas models
• Thermal protection system design tools

Process Integration

• AE-001: CFD Analysis Workflow (hypersonic regime)
• Advanced hypersonic vehicle design processes