Navier-Stokes Computations of Reentry Flowfields with Coupled Surface Ablation

A formulation of ablation surface boundary conditions of carbon-carbon material, based on surface mass and energy conservation, has been developed. These surface boundary conditions are integrated with a 2-D axisymmetric Navier-Stokes solver. The gas-surface interaction model is based on chemical equilibrium ablation with surface mass and energy balances fully coupled with the numerical solver (without the use of mass/energy transfer coefficients and/or thermochemical tables). This numerical procedure can predict aerothermal heating, chemical species concentrations, and carbon material ablation rates over the heat-shield surface of reentry vehicles. An experimental test case has been reproduced for validation. The free-stream conditions of the selected test case are typical for Earth reentry from a planetary mission.