LAUSR

Abstract In the design of the hypersonic space plane which can conduct repeatable space exploration, how to predict aerodynamic heating loads accurately is of significance to devise the thermal protection system. In this paper, the grid strategy specific to structured grids for predicting the hypersonic aerodynamic heating loads is studied. The three-dimensional Navier–Stokes (NS) equations are simulated. The widely used flux schemes, such as Roe, AUSM+, and AUSMPW+, are adopted and the code employed is validated. Numerical test cases, including hypersonic viscous flow over a blunt body and hypersonic viscous flow over a blunt cone, are conducted. By adopting different cell Reynolds numbers and different aspect ratios of cells near the shock, results of these two test cases suggest that in hypersonic heating loads' predictions, it is better to adopt grids with the cell Reynolds number no larger than 20. Also, the aspect ratio of cells near the shock should be larger than 6. Hypersonic viscous flow over the X33 vehicle indicates that the aerodynamic heating loads of the hypersonic space plane can be accurately predicted by adopting the grid strategy proposed in this study.