Aerothermal Prediction of Hypersonic Re-entry Configurations: Effects of Geometry, Altitude, and Chemical Kinetics

Abstract

Accurate prediction of aerothermal loads under hypersonic thermochemical nonequilibrium conditions is critical for the design of future atmospheric re-entry vehicles. This study presents a comprehensive numerical investigation of the aerodynamic and aerothermal performance of three representative re-entry configurations (a lifting delta wing, a cone-flare body, and a blunt-spiked nose) under realistic hypersonic flight conditions. The compressible Navier– Stokes equations are solved using ANSYS Fluent, incorporating detailed thermochemical nonequilibrium effects through Park’s five-species, 17-reaction air model. Results are systematically compared with perfect-gas and reduced-reaction models to quantify the impact of dissociation on heating predictions. Parametric analyses are conducted over Mach numbers 15–25, altitudes 60–76 km, and angles of attack up to 40°, focusing on lift-to-drag ratio, aerodynamic braking, wall temperature, and heat flux distribution. Adaptive mesh refinement ensures accurate resolution of shock–boundary-layer interactions while maintaining computational efficiency. The results demonstrate that lifting configurations significantly enhance controllability, with the delta wing achieving up to a 63% improvement in lift-to-drag ratio compared to the cone-flare. Detailed chemistry reduces peak post-shock temperatures by approximately 28% relative to perfect-gas assumptions due to endothermic dissociation. Furthermore, the blunt-spiked nose effectively mitigates stagnation heating, reducing nose temperature by about 12.5% through bow-shock displacement. Numerical predictions show good agreement with available experimental schlieren and heat-transfer data. Overall, the study highlights the synergistic role of geometry, flight parameters, and chemical kinetics in optimizing aerothermal performance, providing validated guidelines for the development of next-generation lifting hypersonic reentry vehicles.