63rd International Astronautical Congress, Naples, Italy. Copyright 2012 by the International Astronautical Federation. All rights reserved.

IAC-12- A3,5,13.p1,x12886 EFFECT OF NOSE CAVITY ON THE HEAT FLUXES TO REENTRY VEHICLE IN TITAN'S ATMOSPHERE Karthik Sundarraj University of Petroleum and Energy Studies, India, karthik_sundarraj@yahoo.com Linsu Sebastian University of Petroleum and Energy Studies, India, linsusebastian@gmail.com Rajesh Yadav University of Petroleum and Energy Studies, India, upes.rajesh@gmail.com Sourabh Bhat University of Petroleum and Energy Studies, India, spbhat@ddn.upes.ac.in Gurunadh Velidi University of Petroleum and Energy Studies, India, guru.velidi@live.in Ugur Guven University of Petroleum and Energy Studies, India, drguven@live.in The effective exploration of the outer reaches of our solar system is one of the most important objectives in the various space programs of the world. One of the more interesting objectives of such an exploration is a robotic space probe mission to Titan. There are various observational data to suggest that Titan may hold the key to various key raw elements and this can be varied with a mission that has an objective of a successful re-entry to Titan's atmosphere. A typical probe for Titan's entry with forward facing axisymmetric cavity is investigated numerically for peak heat fluxes using commercially available Computational Fluid Dynamics code. The cavities investigated are circular in shape with rounded lips while the lip radius is varied from 20 cm to 80 cm. The Martian entry vehicle chosen for the simulation is 60-deg sphere cone probe with a projected diameter of 2.7m and nose radius of 1.25 m. The flow conditions simulated in the investigation are that of ballistic descent through the Titan's atmosphere with free stream Mach No., pressure and density of 18.86, 15.62 Pa and 0.000296 kg/m3 respectively. A two dimensional axisymmetric computational fluid dynamic analysis is done for ideal gas condition and will be extended to nonequilibrium chemically reacting gas assumptions with non-catalytic wall in the further study. The non-equilibrium chemistry is simulated using thirteen species with 24 step reaction of Gokcen. The presence of large cavity at the nose is likely to reduce the maximum heating rates at the stagnation region which is extremely desirable for safe delivery of payloads. It is the objective of this paper to ensure to suggest relevant design parameters for a successful reentry mission to Titan so that it can set the trend for similar missions in the future. INTRODUCTION Titan is said to be formed in the Saturn subnebula. With the help of a model of comet nuclei, it is noticed that Titans nitrogen and methane makes up 50% of its mass which is in the form of ice. Thus it is assumed that as a result of accretion of icy planetesimals (i.e. particles and lumps made of rock and ice) the Titan has originated in Saturns sub nebula.[1] There is no direct measurement of the composition of these planetesimals. Titans atmosphere is produced by degassing of the icy planetesimals. Until modern instrumentation was employed it was not revealed that Titan had unusual nature. With advances in infrared instrumentations the composition shown in Table:1 was revealed in the Titans atmosphere.[2]Titans Atmospheric profiles as explained by Ralph D. Lorents[3] considering Huygens Engineering Sensors gives a very good understanding of Density, Pressure and Temperature variation with respect to Altitude. A.James Friedson et.al in his paper (A global climate model of Titans atmosphere and surface) gives a very clear comparison between the temperature variation with pressure. He also explains the Heating/cooling rate with increase in altitude. Tobias Owen in his work provides a detailed insight on the recent advancement in the atmospheric findings of Titan and also gives a detailed explanation to the presence of each gas in the atmosphere of Titan and the behavior of these gasses in accordance to many parameters. An excellent result produced by Bobby Kazeminejad et al on Entry and Descent through Titans Atmosphere provides an

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63rd International Astronautical Congress, Naples, Italy. Copyright 2012 by the International Astronautical Federation. All rights reserved.

insite on the aerodynamic performance of Reentry modules alongside varying altitude. He also provides data on Density, Temperature and Mach Number variation with respect to Altitude. With this brief introduction to Titans atmosphere and its importance in the field of research, the main objective of this paper is set to study the effect of varying nose cavity geometry on the aerodynamics, temperature and heat flux in comparison with the spherical blunt cone modules. Also as a part of this research and as extended work for the paper a numerical comparison between Ideal gas and Real gas condition is done along with coding chemical reactions in the flow region. In order to study the effect of heat fluxes in a system, some physical and chemical parameters of the system is essential. Thus to proceed with the study and for initially analysing, we have considered the chemical composition as shown in Table:1. Weighted Molecular Species Abundance Molecular Mass Mass N2 ~95% 28.01344 26.61277 CH4 ~4% 16.04257 0.64170 H2 0.1% 2.015894 2.0159e-3 CO ~50 ppm 28.01021 1.4005e-3 C2H6 15 ppm 30.06924 4.51e-4 C3H8 0.9 ppm 44.09592 3.968e-5 C2H2 5 ppm 26.03745 1.301e-4 C2H4 ~7 ppm 28.05335 1.963e-4 CO2 0.014 ppm 44.00964 6.16e-7 Average weighted molecular mass: 27.2587 Table: 1 Composition of Gases observed in Titans atmosphere. [1] The study is considered with data to suggest that Titan has raw elements and this can be varied with a mission that has an objective of a successful re-entry to Titans atmosphere. The re-entry model considered is a forward facing axisymmetric cavity, with cavities in the shapes of circular and hyperbolic with the radius of the cavity being varied from 20cm to 80cm. The re-entry vehicle has projected diameter of 2.7m and nose radius of 1.25m with 60-deg sphere cone probe. The flow conditions used for the simulations are considered by the ballistic descent through the titans atmosphere. The simulations carried out using commercial Computational Fluid Dynamics softwares. The simulation is carried out with freestream Mach No. of 18.86, pressure of 15.62Pa and density of 0.000296 kg/m3. IDEAL GAS CONDITIONS For the perfect gas conditions, the value of specific gas constant (R) was calculated using the weighted average of the molecular weights of

chemical compositions present in the Titans atmosphere. The heat capacity ratio, () is also calculated by taking the weighted average value of the compositions. The specific gas constant (R) and the heat capacity ratio () are calculated to find the velocity of sound in Titans atmosphere, which gives the velocity of the free-stream for the given Mach No. The weighted averages of the molecular weights of the compositions are as shown in the Table: 1. For the perfect gas conditions; Specific gas constant, R= R= = 305.02 J/kgK [1]

Heat capacity ratio () by taking the average weighted value of the composition is = 1.41. Velocity of sound in air was calculated using, , where T is the Temperature at the altitude from the Titan surface for the given flow condition. The velocity is then obtained using the given Mach No., V = M*a, which if calculated as 5219.473 m/s. The Total Pressure P0 is calculated using the formula, it was found as 41722182.54 Pa.

[2] Where, P = static pressure, 15.62 Pa = 1.41 (Weighted value for Titan) M = 18.86 The stagnation temperature is calculated using the formula; it was found as 12935.72315 K.

[3] Where, T = 175 K

GEOMETRY Spherically blunt cone geometry is considered for this study with varying cavity size. Various cavity sizes of the re-entry vehicle was considered for analysing the aerodynamic behaviour, temperature variation and heat fluxes at the nose cavity. The geometries created for the simulation were in 2-D, as it is axis-symmetry. The model was designed by calculating the geometry for spherical cone using the appropriate mathematical formulae. Fig. 1 represents the spherically blunt cone geometry for

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63rd International Astronautical Congress, Naples, Italy. Copyright 2012 by the International Astronautical Federation. All rights reserved.

understanding. Equations 4 to 8 give detailed mathematical expressions used to model the re-entry module.

Fig.1 Spherically Blunt Nose (b) Nose cavity 20cm The Length, L of the cone is found using the formula;

[4] Where, R = Base radius = cone angle The tangential points on the nose are found using equations 5 and 6;

[5] Where, rn Nose radius (c) Nose Cavity 40cm

[6]

[7] [8] The Aeroshell geometry was designed using ANSYS ICEM CFD software. Fig.2 (a) to (e) shows the 2D geometry of the Aeroshell considered for study; (d) Nose cavity 60cm

Fig.2 (a) Spherically Blunt Nose Cone

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63rd International Astronautical Congress, Naples, Italy. Copyright 2012 by the International Astronautical Federation. All rights reserved.

(e) Nose cavity 80cm BLOCKING AND MESH The study domain considered is 50 times rear, 10 times ahead and 50 times above the geometry. Multiblocking technique is used to divide the domain and for mesh concentration near the object. Fig. 3 shows the blocking strategy used to obtain good quality structured mesh. The mesh growth rate is taken as 1.2 times with an effective boundary layer length taken as 3.3398m. Fig.5 shows the structural mesh obtained over the geometry and Fig.6 shows the boundary layer mesh development.

Fig. 5 Structured Mesh Obtained

Fig. 3 Blocking strategy Structured mesh is used for analysis with approximately 130421 mesh elements and 129600 nodes. These values are managed to approximately be the same for all geometric conditions. The boundary layer thickness, is found to be 0.03274 meter using the formula; [9] Where, x boundary layer length The y value is calculated as 2.7e-4 m considering y+ as 1. The corresponding Reynolds number is 2.6e5. The y value is calculated by using the formula; [10] Where, - dynamic viscosity u* - Friction Velocity Mesh smoothing operation is carried out upto 95% starting from 0.5% and the overall mess accuracy obtained is over 95%. Fig. 4 shows the mesh quality obtained.

Fig. 6 Mesh Growth at Boundary Layer PRE-PROCESSOR Density based solver is used along with steady state flow with steady time. Axisymmetric geometry analysis is done by selecting the symmetry boundary condition as axis. Spalart-Almaras turbulence model is used with Prandl No. assigned as 0.667. The fluid (air) is considered as Ideal gas with density 0.000296 kg/m3. The specific heat, cp is considered as 1006.43 J/kgK and thermal conductivity is 0.0242 W/m-K. The viscosity is obtained from Huygens entry data as 2e-5 kg/m-s and Molecular weight is 27.2587, obtained through weighted average calculation. The material of the Solid boundary is considered to be Titanium with density as 4850 kg/m3, cp as 544.25 J/kg K and thermal conductivity as 7.44 W/m-K. The boundary condition given are namely, Aeroshell (Wall), Inlet, outlet, top and symmetry. The Aeroshell wall condition is considered to be stationary with no-slip boundary layer. Isothermal condition is assumed over the wall at T = 175 K. Inlet, outlet and top are given pressure-far-field condition with pressure being 15.62 pa and M = 18.86. Turbulence intensity is set to 2% with corresponding length scale as 1.541 m and turbulence viscosity ratio as 10. The reference values for flow computation is taken

Fig 4 Mesh Quality over 95%

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63rd International Astronautical Congress, Naples, Italy. Copyright 2012 by the International Astronautical Federation. All rights reserved.

from inlet boundary with density- 0.00029 kg/m3, enthalpy 1.3797 J/kg, velocity 5219.473 m/s and specific heat ratio 1.4. SOLVER Reynolds Averaged Navier Stokes Equation method is used to solve the flow equations. Implicit formulation method is used with ROE-FDS flux type. Least square cell based discritization is used for computing the gradient. Flow is computed using second order accurate upwind method and turbulence is computed using first order accurate upwind method. The convergence criteria set is 1e-6. Steering technique is used for hypersonic configuration with courant number set between 0.05 to 4 for cavity radius upto 40m and it is set between 0.005 to 2 for cavity radius over 40m.

(b) 20cm nose cavity

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION Results obtained from Ansys Fluent 13 are discussed in this section. The results obtained are surface heat flux analysis, domain pressure variation, static temperature variation, static pressure variation and Mach variation over the Aeroshell. Total Surface Heat Flux The total surface heat flux is studied over the entire wall boundary of the Aeroshell. Negative heat flux in the plot signifies the transfer of heat into the object. In accordance with the objective of this paper it is to be proved that the cavity region shows high surface heat flux when compared to the blunt object. Fig. 7 (a) (e) shows the total surface heat flux plot of different geometries.

(c) 40cm Nose Cavity

(d) 60cm Nose Cavity

Fig. 7 (a) Spherically Blunt Nose Cone

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63rd International Astronautical Congress, Naples, Italy. Copyright 2012 by the International Astronautical Federation. All rights reserved.

(d) shows the Mach number contours of different Aeroshell geometries.

(e) 80cm Nose Cavity Fig.8 (a) Spherically Blunt Nose Cone From the above plots it is very evident that as the curvature of the nose cavity increases the heat flux into the Aeroshell increases, hence reducing the heating at the stagnation region. Fig.7 (a) shows the Total Heat Flux rate of a spherically blunt nose cone. Position 0.2 to 0.8m on the plot is the blunt nose region. It can be seen from the plot the heat flux into the Aeroshell is high all over the blunt nose. There is high heating taking place at the stagnation point as seen in the plot. The blunt nose stagnates the flow and hence heats up the stagnation region and increases the object heating. From Fig. 7 (b) to (e) the cavity radius is increased gradually from 20cm to 80cm. It can be seen, as the curvature increases the heat flux into the object reduces. Position 0m on the plot is the lower tip of the cavity at the axisymmetric axis. Fig. 7 (b) corresponds to 20cm cavity. The cavity surface starts from 0m to 0.25m. Fig.7 (c) corresponds to 40cm cavity starting from 0m to 0.5m on the plot. From the plot it can be seen that the heating at the lower surface of the cavity is less and the heat flux increases near the tip of the cavity. Fig 7 (d) corresponds to 60cm and (e) corresponds to 80cm. In both these cases it is very evident that the surface heating is much lesser that that of a blunt cone object. This is because as the cavity size increases the surface heat flux along the cavity reduces upto the sharp edge of the cavity. The stagnation region is drastically reduced to a sharp region in all these cases when compared to a blunt nose object. Hence, it can be numerically stated and proved that the presence of cavity in the nose region decreases the surface heating of the object at the stagnation region and invariably decreases the heat flux into the object. This helps the re-entry of the object to a greater extent into the atmosphere. Mach number Contour The study of Mach number contour gives us an added insight on the position of shock and the stagnation region ahead of the Aeroshell. Fig. 8 (a) to

(b) 20cm Cavity

(c) 60cm Cavity

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63rd International Astronautical Congress, Naples, Italy. Copyright 2012 by the International Astronautical Federation. All rights reserved.

Weighted value of Heat capacity ratio Boundary layer thickness Reynolds Number Boundary layer length First node distance Dynamic Viscosity in () Friction Velocity in (m/s) Enthalpy in (J/kg) Density of the fluid in (kg/m3) ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

Re x y u* h

(d) 80cm Cavity From the above contours it can be seen that the shock position is close to the Aeroshell in case of blunt nose model, whereas the shock is moving a bit away from the object in the presence of cavity. This will help in reducing the surface heating and burnout. This is a very much desired property during re-entry. The shock seems to be at a distance of around 1m from the re-entry module. The distance of the shock is that high mainly because the density of the air is very low. This causes compression to take place slower and at a greater region. CONCLUSION Numerical simulations are conducted for different cavity dimensions and are compared with the spherically blunt cone module. From the numerical simulations it is very evident that the presence of cavity at the nose drastically reduces the maximum heating rate of the Aeroshell surface. The fluid properties considered meet that of the properties existing in the Titans atmosphere and the results validate to the Titans atmospheric conditions. Hence, these results obtained are simulated in Titans atmospheric conditions and the behaviour of shock and heating correspond to an atmosphere similar to that of Titan. Thus, from this study it can be concluded that the presence of cavity decreases surface heating of the Aeroshell at the stagnation region and helps in safe delivery of payload. NOMENCLATURE Specific gas constant in (J/kgK) Heat capacity ratio for ideal gas Velocity of sound in air in (m/s) Temperature of air at an altitude in (K) Local velocity of the fluid in (m/s) Mach Number Total Pressure of the fluid in (Pa) Total Temperature of the fluid in (K) Static Pressure of the fluid in (Pa)

We wish to thank University of Petroleum and Energy Studies (UPES) for providing us such opportunities for research activity. We also take this opportunity to thank our Chancellor, Vice chancellor, Pro Vice Chancellor and Dr. Ugur Guven for providing us with all the necessary facilities and guidance. Moreover, we would like to acknowledge the help of Prof. Dr Murat Aydin, Prof. Dr. Akif Atalay, Dr. Turgut Berat Karyot, Dr. Bayram Celik And Prof. Dr. Rustem Aslan for their past contributions in the conceptual analysis. Lastly we also thank every individual who was a part of successful completion of this paper.

1.

2.

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4.

R a T V M P0 T0 P

5.

REFFERENCES Tobias Owen, H B Niemann. (2003). The origin of Titans atmosphere: some recent advances. Planetary and Space Science . 51, 977-989. A. D'Angola, C. Gorse, G. Colonna, M. Capitelli Thermodynamic and transport properties in equilibrium air plasmas in a wide pressure and temperature range, The European Physical Journal D Vol 46, N1, p 129-150, (2008) Bobby Kazeminejada,David H. Atkinson, Miguel Perez-Ayu'car, Jean-Pierre Lebreton, Claudio Sollazzo. (2007). Huygens entry and descent through Titans atmosphere Methodology and results of the trajectory reconstruction. Planetary and Space Science . 55 , 1845-1876. A.James Friedson,Robert A.West,Eric H.Wilson,Fabiano Oyafuso,Glenn S.Orton . (2009). A global climate model of Titans atmosphere and surface. Planetary and Space Science . 57, 1931-1949. Ralph D. Lorenz. (2007). Titan atmosphere profiles from Huygens engineering (temperature and acceleration) sensors. Planetary and Space Science . 55 , 1949-1958.

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