Effect of Eccentricity on the Thermal Behaviour of A Re-Entry Vehicle With Concave Windward Surface

For a successful space programme, the reusable spacecraft should survive numerous re-entry conditions. The re-entry of almost all the reusable space shuttles resembles a flat plate at high angles of attack because of its flat windward surface. The feasibility of concave ventral surface in space shuttles is analysed computationally with a commercially available solver scFLOW. A full three-dimensional Navier–Stokes equations are solved over a thin concave plate at different angles of attack to a hypersonic flow. The peak temperature and drag coefficients of different eccentric plates are compared with that of a flat plate normal to the flow. The air is assumed to be thermally perfect gas. The flow is assumed to be continuum. The total heat transfer rates and peak heat fluxes of a concave plate are compared with the flat plate. This paper discusses the results of these simulations and how the concavity behaves in the re-entry of spacecraft.