A Multiblock Compressible Navier-Stokes Flow Solver Applied to Complex Launch Vehicles

Abdollah Arabshahi and J. Mark Janus

A recent need to establish a predictive capability of the aerodynamic coefficients for complex launch vehicles has presented an opportunity to test a multiblock compressible Navier-Stokes flow solver which has been evolving over many years now. The solver utilizes a state-of-the-art implicit, upwind numerical scheme to solve the time-dependent thin-layer Navier-Stokes equations in a generalized time-dependent curvilinear coordinate system. Domain decomposition is accomplished via a general unstructured multiblock approach. The predictive capability was validated through the use of sample launch configurations for which experimental data was available. Computational results are presented for high incidence angle configurations in the transonic speed regime to demonstrate the accuracy and reliability of the software. Excellent agreement with experimental data is shown.