Research on numerical method of heat-sealing structure for spacecraft hull based on multi-physics coupling

A transient multi-physics coupling analysis method which can present the overall consideration of the peripheral hypersonic flow outside the structure, heat and mass transfer of the heat-sealing part and hull structure and flow and heat transfer in the interior cavity of the high temperature heat-sealing structure for the spacecraft was proposed in this paper. The developed Van Driest transformation was employed to predict the hypersonic flow environment. The integrated coupling analysis method was presented with a Gauss-Seidel block-iterative coupling method. A composite structure including several parts with different material was adopted. A time trace of 0-200 s for the transient heat transfer process was considered with two cases: with the sealing plug and without the sealing plug. Results show that the usage of the sealing structure can decrease the highest temperature of the interior cavity significantly and the consideration of the transient changes can present the changing process of the heat transfer and temperature distribution among the structure parts and the interior cavity. The numerical method proposed in this paper can be widely applied for the heat transfer analysis of the heat-sealing structures of the spacecraft and it can provide an effective numerical analysis tool for the design of the heat-sealing structures of the spacecraft such as the rocket. ©, 2014, Journal of Solid Rocket Technology. All right reserved.