Aerodynamic Design of a Reusable Booster Stage Flight Experiment

The DLR Project ReFEx is a flight experiment to gain experience for future HTVL reusable rocket stages. The focus of this paper lies on the aerodynamic properties and difficulties during the reentry flight. The stable flight envelope, regions with little and without aerodynamic stability and the analysis of various forms of stable and unstable motion are covered. The test flight is scheduled for 2022

Particle-based modeling of the unsteady flow in a high-test peroxide catalytic chamber

A particle-based mathematical model is proposed. It contains a one-dimensional approximation of the flow with heat transfer in the chamber wall and the catalytic material. It is designed for packed bed reactors with spherical granulated catalytic materials and is customized for high-test peroxide as fluid. The unsteady flow in the cold start phase can be analyzed. The temperature values increase over the time and the mass fraction of the chemical components are useable for a better understanding of the process inside and a precise design of new catalytic chambers with an improved functionality

Aerothermodynamics issues of the DLR hypersonic flight experiment SHEFEX-I

Here is presented an overview of the hypersonic experiment on sharp edge concepts, SHEFEX-I. The project, being performed under responsibility of the German Aerospace Center (DLR), is aimed to investigate the behavior and the possibilities of an improved shape for aerospace vehicles considering sharp edges and facetted surfaces. It is a basic in-flight experimentation research on hypersonic technologies for future launcher vehicles but not a re-entry experiment. Additionally, the SHEFEX-I project is the starting point for a series of experiments which enable the acquisition of important knowledge in hypersonic free flight experimentation and which are an excellent test bed for new technological concepts. The experiment which successfully flew on top of a two-stage solid propellant sounding rocket on October 27th, 2005 from Andøya Rocket Range in northern Norway, enabled time accurate investigation of the flow effects and their structural answer during a hypersonic flight Ma~6 from 90 km down to an altitude of 20 km. The present paper gives an overview about the aerothermodynamic philosophy and introduces some main outcomes of the post-flight analysis

The Hypersonic Experiment SHEFEX - Aerotheromdynamic Layout, Vehicle Development and First Flight Results

The purpose of the SHarp Edge Flight Experiment SHEFEX was the investigation of the aerodynamic behaviour and thermal problems of possible new shapes for future launcher or re-entry vehicles. The main focus was the improvement of common space vehicle shapes by application of facetted surfaces and sharp edges. The experiment has permitted the accurate investigation of the flow effects and their structural solution during the hypersonic flight from 90 km down to an altitude of 20 km. The project, performed under responsibility of the German Aerospace Centre (DLR) was launched from Andoya Rocket Range, Norway on October 27th 2005. This paper introduces the mission, describes the layout of the experiment and the re-entry vehicle, as well as the development process of the complete flight vehicle and initial post flight results

LAYOUT OF HYPERSONIC VEHICLES BY COUPLING OF AERODYNAMICS AND FLIGHTMECHANICS

Currently, the direct coupling of CFD and flight mechanics during the layout is still much too time-consuming to consider the free motion of a vehicle along a complete trajectory. Therefore, it is the goal to develop a modular coupling procedure between the trajectory optimization code REENT [1] of the Universität Stuttgart and the DLR surface inclination method SOSE [2], which in a later step also allows the use of the DLR Euler- and Navier- Stokes code TAU. Within the present paper the coupling procedure is introduced and basic but representative examples for sounding rocket and re-entry missions are discussed to prove the feasibility of the procedure