Ablation Modeling For Dynamic Simulation Of Reentry Vehicles Preprint David B Doman And William Blake by David B. Doman And William Blake instant download after payment.

AFRL-VA-WP-TP-2006-327
Approved for public release; distribution is unlimited.STINFO COPYAIR VEHICLES DIRECTORATE
AIR FORCE MATERIEL COMMAND
AIR FORCE RESEARCH LABORATORY
WRIGHT-PATTERSON AIR FORCE BASE, OH 45433-7542The collection of methods described in this manuscript can be used in a dynamic simulation to provide
estimates of the mass properties and aerodynamic forces and moments as a reentry vehicle ablates due to
aerodynamic heating . Dynamic simulations of reentry vehicles are required to perform trajectory optimiza-
tion and to analyze the robustness of guidance and control systems. Reentry vehicle trajectories vary widely
depending on mission requirements and vehicle design. Vehicles that experience relatively low peak heating
with reusable thermal protection systems such as the shuttle, experience little if any ablation. At the other
extreme, ballistic reentry vehicles and interplanetary probes can experience very high peak heat loads that
cause the thermal protection material to ablate. A number of vehicle characteristics change as a result of ab-
lation. The mass properties of the vehicle change due to the loss of material and the aerodynamic forces and
moments acting on the vehicle change as a result of the an ablating outer mold line (OML). These changes
can affect aerodynamic as well as guidance and control system performance. A number of techniques exist
that allow one to measure the changes to the OML1,2 during experimental testing. Empirical methods are
described in this paper that can be used to translate limited test data into a rough, but representative model
that can be used to estimate the effects of ablation on a vehicle’s ability to follow a prescribed trajectory
and on guidance and control performance and robustness.
Section II proposes a method to estimate the location of points on the OML that lie outside of the vehicle
plane of symmetry where test measurements are typically obtained. These points can be used to generate a 3
dimensional grid that is
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