Investigations on the turbulent wake of a generic space launcher geometry in the hypersonic flow regime

¹ Institute of Aerodynamics and Flow Technology German Aerospace Center Linder Höhe, Köln 51147, Germany
² Institute of Aerodynamics Aachen RWTH Aachen University 5a Wüllnerstraße, Aachen 52062, Germany

Abstract

The turbulent wake flow of generic rocket configurations is investigated experimentally and numerically at a freestream Mach number of 6.0 and a unit Reynolds number of 10·10⁶ m⁻¹. The flow condition is based on the trajectory of Ariane V-like launcher at an altitude of 50 km, which is used as the baseline to address the overarching tasks of wake flows in the hypersonic regime like fluid-structural coupling, reverse hot jets and base heating. Experimental results using pressure transducers and the high-speed Schlieren measurement technique are shown to gain insight into the local pressure fluctuations on the base and the oscillations of the recompression shock. This experimental configuration features a wedgeprofiled strut orthogonally mounted to the main body. Additionally, the influence of cylindrical dummy nozzles attached to the base of the rocket is investigated, which is the link to the numerical investigations. Here, the axisymmetric model possesses a cylindrical sting support of the same diameter as the dummy nozzles. The sting support allows investigations for an undisturbed wake flow. A time-accurate zonal Reynolds-Averaged Navier-Stokes/Large Eddy Simulation (RANS/LES) approach is applied to identify shocks, expansion waves, and the highly unsteady recompression region numerically. Subsequently, experimental and numerical results in the strut-averted region are compared with regard to the wall pressure and recompression shock frequency spectra. For the compared configurations, experimental pressure spectra exhibit dominant Strouhal numbers at about Sr_D = 0.03 and 0.27, and the recompression shock oscillates at 0.2. In general, the pressure and recompression shock fluctuations numerically calculated agree reasonably with the experimental results. The experiments with a blunt base reveal base-pressure spectra with dominant Strouhal numbers at 0.08 at the center position and 0.145, 0.21-0.22, and 0.31-0.33 at the outskirts of the base.