Numerical analysis of air dissociation influence on spaceplane aerodynamic characteristics

Abstract Hypersonic flow is a very complex regime due to high values of velocity that causes air dissociation and ionization. This paper explores the influence of air dissociation on aircraft aerodynamic properties. The approach is the creation of a block-structured mesh by means of ICEM CFD and further set-up of Fluent solver. Aircraft aerodynamics properties were calculated for cases of perfect gas and non-equilibrium flow. Based on the results of the calculation, a comparison was made between obtained drag pressure coefficients, skin friction coefficients, drag coefficients, lift coefficients, lift-to-drag ratios and pitching moment coefficients.