A new-generation high-order Flux Reconstruction solver to model aerothermodynamics and transition for hypersonic vehicles

During the last decade there has been a renewed interest worldwide in hypersonic flows research by space agencies, academia, aerospace and aviation industry. When designing hypersonic vehicles (e.g. for future manned or robotic space missions, tourism, new-generation airliners), the characterization of aerothermodynamics (ATD) is arguably the most critical aspect to consider, involving phenomena such as chemical dissociation/ionization and transition to turbulence which can play a key role in determining, in particular, the surface heating loads which must be properly calculated for designing reliable Thermal Protection Systems. Nowadays, Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) is arguably the most cost-effective tool for predicting ATD and heat fluxes in realistic flight conditions. Due to the extreme flow conditions (with speeds up to 12 km/s or more) and the complexity of the physics involved, CFD codes must ensure a reasonable compromise between robustness, efficiency, accuracy and be flexible enough to integrate increasingly more advanced models and algorithms. To this end, this project aims at providing a paradigm shift, combining all the benefits of last generation high-order Flux Reconstruction methods with improved modeling for thermochemical non-equilibrium effects and laminar-to-turbulent transition, leading to the development of the first solver able to provide up to 10th order of accuracy for simulating ATD for real hypersonic vehicles on unstructured adaptive grids.