22nd Congress of International Council of the Aeronautical Sciences, Harrogate, UK, 28 August - 1st September, 2000
Paper ICAS 2000-3.2.2
AERODYNAMIC DESIGN AND ANALYSIS OF A REUSABLE LAUNCH VEHICLE
M. R. Mendenhall, H. S. Y. Chou, J. F. Love
Nielsen Engineering & Research, 526 Clyde Ave., Mountain View, USA
Keywords: reusable launch vehicle, aerodynamics, cfd
Computational aerodynamics has been used
for the design and analysis of the Kistler K-1
reusable launch vehicle. The aerodynamic
design methodology for this new vehicle is
discussed, and analytical results are compared
with wind tunnel test data where possible. The
basic computational approach involved the
use of all levels of prediction methods from
engineering methods to CFD codes. The
unique aerodynamic requirements for this
innovative launch vehicle configuration dictate
the computational methods which can be used,
and it was necessary to rely heavily on applied
CFD for the aerodynamic characteristics of
the K-1 configuration components. The
practical and economical uses of
computational aerodynamic methods to
provide results for a number of challenging
and unusual fluid problems are described.
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