Infrared radiation profiles of a hypersonic glide vehicle during re-entry

Thomas, Nathan Robert

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https://hdl.handle.net/2142/120412 Copy

Description

Title

Infrared radiation profiles of a hypersonic glide vehicle during re-entry

Author(s)

Thomas, Nathan Robert

Issue Date

2023-04-26

Director of Research (if dissertation) or Advisor (if thesis)

Levin, Deborah A

Department of Study

Aerospace Engineering

Discipline

Aerospace Engineering

Degree Granting Institution

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Degree Name

M.S.

Degree Level

Thesis

Keyword(s)

• IR Profiles
• Hypersonic Vehicle
• HGV CFD
• HVBETS

Abstract

An HGV trajectory was calculated for a waverider configuration boosted to an altitude of 60 (km) with a ∆V of 3.7 ( km/s ). For the hypersonic vehicle the total downrange distance was 3250 (km) over a flight time of 21.75 minutes. Using a semi-empirical model for the stagnation point heat flux it was found that the maximum along the trajectory was ̇Q = 4x106 ( W/m2 ). CFD simulations of the HIFiRE-5 flight test vehicle were completed at chosen points along the trajectory and it was found that the semi-empirical model under-predicted the simulated stagnation point values at every location. It is hypothesized that the ratio of wall to total enthalpy plays a significant role in this under prediction and it is shown that as this ratio approaches 0 the results have much better agreement with the semi-emperical model. An in-house CFD post-processing software package (HVBETS) is validated and used to measure the IR signature profile of the vehicle and the high temperature wake. The vehicle surface signature varies between 0.5 and 6.4 ( kW/Sr ) and the wakesignature varies between 8.27x10−5 and 9.97x10−5 ( W/Sr/cm2 ). It is hypothesized that the orders of magnitude difference between the two IR sources is due to the conditions imposed on the wake at an altitude of 70 (km). The ground work for future analysis is laid where the parameters of the wake are changed to increase the total contribution and determine which variables are most important for the IR wake signature.

Graduation Semester

2023-05

Type of Resource

Thesis

Handle URL

https://hdl.handle.net/2142/120412

Copyright and License Information

Copyright 2023 Nathan Thomas

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