AERO-THERMAL ANALYSIS OF A REUSABLE LAUNCH VEHICLE DURING RE-ENTRY MANOEUVRER

The growing demand for space access, propelled by the continuous expansion of the space economy, stands as a primary motivator for the regain of interest for rockets re-usability. This paper aims at presenting the aero-thermal analysis of a simplified single-stage launch vehicle during both its ascent and descent path. In detail, 2D axissymmetric computations were performed using the commercial gas-dynamic code CFD++ to predict the aerodynamic heating on the launch vehicle wall. Thermal loads were evaluated using a Conjugate Heat Transfer (CHT) technique, implemented in the CFD++ solver, which couples the fluid-dynamic field around the launch vehicle with the solid one within the launch vehicle walls. Furthermore, some considerations regarding surface heating due to the retropropulsion maneuver are drawn in this work