Development and validation of a high-fidelity aero-thermo-elastic analysis capability

Coupled aero-thermal-elastic simulations are required for the accurate simulation of many high speed flow problems. Hence, the multidisciplinary analysis of such problems is the main focus of the current work. In this study, the flow simulations are carried out using NSU3D, a three-dimensional implicit finite volume solver developed in-house that has been well tested and validated through numerous previous studies. For the thermal and structural solutions, a finite-element solver called AStrO is used, which is also developed in-house. The heat conduction, and thermo-elastic capability of AStrO are demonstrated in this work through comparison of results with analytical solutions. The loosely coupled aero-thermo-elastic platform is validated in this work through two applications. In the first application we compare computed solutions for flow over a hypersonic cylindrical leading edge with available experimental data. In the second application we look at solutions for flow over an aerodynamically heated panel.