High Fidelity Missile Hardbody Plume Interaction Modeling

Considerable effort has been expended by the missile defense community to obtain accurate, well validated simulation tools for the prediction of optical signatures. Since sensors must detect and track threat missiles from launch to impact, plume optical signatures are utilized during the boost phase and hardbody signatures are utilized after burnout. Past efforts have focused primarily on independant assessments of hardbody and plume signatures. Accordingly, the complete propulsion system and plume-induced heating effects on the hardbody signatures (e.g. plume-induced boundary layer separation, hot nozzles, etc.) during the boost phase are neglected. Both the current hardbody (OSC, ATAP) and plume flowfield (SPF-III, CHARM, SOCRATES) codes include methodology that accounts for continuum, transitional and rarefied flow regimes. However, these codes are completely uncoupled from each other. In view of the need described above it is the objective of this SBIR to develop a common flowfield solver, from launch to impact, that can accurately predict missile hardbody and plume flowfields simultaneously, accounting for all important propulsion system and plume-induced heating effects on the hardbody. The work planned for this Phase I SBIR is to establish the feasibility of our approach towards the development of this common flowfield solver.