CFD Methods in Non-Equilibrium Aerothermodynamics

Proper characterization of the high-temperature non-equilibrium hypersonic flow around a capsule during the entry in a planetary atmosphere is fundamental in designing an appropriate thermal protection system and to allow safe landings or splashdowns. Among the various fields involved in this multi-disciplinary problem, developing a reliable CFD solver to test reduced order physical models to correctly describe such flows is essential. At University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign the High fidElity tool for maGnEto-gasdynamic simuLations (HEGEL) CFD solver is being developed to perform such task. The aim of this work is to present three different numerical algorithms that have been implemented in HEGEL to enhance its computational efficiency and broaden its range of applications. First, a modified formulation of the backward Euler integration scheme for blunt bodies in hypersonic flows, the Data Parallel Line Relaxation (DPLR) algorithm, which is up to three times faster than the original method, is discussed. Secondly, a mesh refinement scheme that, without increasing the number of points in the grid, improves the spatial resolution of the flowfield in the boundary layer and around the shock is applied to the same testcases. Finally, a 5-th order Weighted Essentially Non-Oscillatory (WENO) reconstruction method for uniform cartesian grids is tested on the Simple Wave case and employed to simulate a gaseous Shock Bubble Interaction (SBI)