Numerical analysis of thermal protection system heat transfer for hypersonic vehicle

Insulation is an important part of hypersonic vehicle thermal protection system. The combined radiation/conduction heat transfer in high-porosity, high-temperature fibrous insulations is investigated numerically. A numerical model is established to solve the governing combined radiation and conduction heat transfer equations based on control volumes method. The radiation heat transfer is modeled by the optically thick approximation. The numerical model is validated by comparison with steady-state effective thermal conductivity measurements at different densities and pressure. The numerical model is also validated by comparison with a transient thermal test simulation under real reentry aerodynamic heating condition. Finally, a one-dimensional thermal model is established, which is used to calculate temperature response of thermal protection system infrastructure for variation of insulation thickness difference, and analyze thermal insulating efficiency with insulation thickness difference.