Wall temperature correlation for convective heating prediction of aircraft heat shield in high-enthalpy and chemically reacting flow

Abstract

Hypersonic aircrafts and aero-engine combustion chambers both generate non-equilibrium and high-enthalpy flows and bring complex material-relied heat convection performance. The convective heating prediction is difficult due to unknown surface thermal state, leading to poor usability of wall temperature correlation method (WTCM). This paper aims at improving WTCM for convective heating prediction in chemically reacting flows through coupling computation of catalysis on thermal protection materials. Modified WTCM for chemically reacting flows accounts for two distinct physical events driven by temperature gradient and species reaction, which follow the Fourier’s and Fick’s laws, respectively. Preliminary validation testing demonstrates the feasibility of the modified WTCM to rapidly evaluate aerodynamic heating with limited deviation. The current research provides essential technical support for the evaluation and design of hypersonic aircrafts and aero-engine combustion chambers.