2026-09-20T07:20:14Zhttps://dspace.mit.edu/server/oai/requestoai:dspace.mit.edu:1721.1/1629372025-10-07T04:12:44Zcom_1721.1_7582com_1721.1_7581col_1721.1_131023
Harris, Wesley L.
Mao, Grace
Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics
2025-10-06T17:35:39Z
2025-10-06T17:35:39Z
2025-05
2025-06-23T14:45:02.302Z
https://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/162937
This work presents a computational investigation of the influence of geometric configurations within a hypersonic flow field on optical distortion, with a particular focus on the effects of window deformation and the role of thermochemical modeling compared to perfect gas assumptions. Turbulent RANS and conjugate heat transfer were used to model three 3D geometries in US3D, an unstructured-grid finite volume computational fluid dynamics (CFD) solver. The three investigated geometries are a flat plate with a flush-mounted sensor, an open cavity with a length-to-depth ratio of 2, and a closed cavity with a length-to-depth ratio of 16. The data demonstrate that the flat plate configuration has the best optical performance and that the closed cavity has the worst. Additionally, the inclusion of thermochemistry in the flow simulation results in a more pessimistic outlook on image quality compared to the perfect gas model. The results document optical distortion for several different geometries with and without thermochemical modeling within hypersonic flow that can inform future design decisions and research.
S.M.
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
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https://rightsstatements.org/page/InC-EDU/1.0/
Study of Thermochemical Non-equilibrium and Sensor
Cavity Geometry in Hypersonic Flow
Thesis
application/pdf
Master
Master of Science in Aeronautics and Astronautics
Publication
unknown
unknown
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<Abstract>This work presents a computational investigation of the influence of geometric configurations within a hypersonic flow field on optical distortion, with a particular focus on the effects of window deformation and the role of thermochemical modeling compared to perfect gas assumptions. Turbulent RANS and conjugate heat transfer were used to model three 3D geometries in US3D, an unstructured-grid finite volume computational fluid dynamics (CFD) solver. The three investigated geometries are a flat plate with a flush-mounted sensor, an open cavity with a length-to-depth ratio of 2, and a closed cavity with a length-to-depth ratio of 16. The data demonstrate that the flat plate configuration has the best optical performance and that the closed cavity has the worst. Additionally, the inclusion of thermochemistry in the flow simulation results in a more pessimistic outlook on image quality compared to the perfect gas model. The results document optical distortion for several different geometries with and without thermochemical modeling within hypersonic flow that can inform future design decisions and research.</Abstract>
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