Coupled Fluid-Thermal Response in the Gap Region of a High-Speed Control Surface

Detailed fluid-thermal analysis is carried out in the gap region of a all-moveable control surface. A global-local decomposition of the problem is developed in order to provide representative boundary and initial conditions. A novel aspect of this is the initialization of the problem using a trajectory scale thermal simulation to carry out the detailed analysis at an intermediate thermal states of the vehicle during flight. Gap region aerothermodynamics lead to shock-shock and shock-boundary layer interactions, along with complex flow separation and reattachment regions. This leads to severe thermal gradients and peak heating conditions. Results indicate O(1000)K increases in peak gap region heating when the local aerothermodynamic and thermal response is resolved compared to ignored.