A structured multiblock compressible flow solver SPARTA for planetary entry probes

SPARTA is a platform independent Graphical User Interface based two-dimensional compressible flow solver on multiple block structured grids that is developed and integrated to a planetary probe database to study trajectory, aerodynamic heating and flow-field analysis. It is a time-integration solver of the Navier-Stokes equations. The flow geometry may either be planar or axisymmetric. A comprehensive database of atmospheric entry vehicles and aeroshell configurations is developed. The database comprises vehicle dimensions, trajectory data, and aero-thermal, Thermal Protection Systems data for many different ballistic entry vehicles. Material properties for Carbon and Silicon based ablators are modeled and can be accessed from the database. SPARTA provides capabilities to choose from a list of flight vehicles or enter geometry information of a vehicle in design. A fourth order Runge-Kutta integration is employed for trajectory calculations. Fay-Riddell and Sutton-Grave empirical correlations have been used for the stagnation point convective heat transfer and Tauber-Sutton for the stagnation point Radiative heat transfer calculations. An approach is presented for dynamic TPS sizing. The inputs for the flow solver come from the trajectory output. SPARTA is a trajectory based flow solver.