TITLE:
3D DSMC Simulation of Rarefied Gas Flows around a Space Crew Capsule Using OpenFOAM
AUTHORS:
Zhi Shang, Shuo Chen
KEYWORDS:
DSMC; Rarefied Gas; Crew Capsule; Reentry; OpenFOAM
JOURNAL NAME:
Open Journal of Applied Sciences,
Vol.3 No.1,
March
29,
2013
ABSTRACT: An open source Direct Simulation Monte Carlo (DSMC) code, called as dsmcFoam in OpenFOAM, is used to study a blunt body with the shape of a space crew capsule return vehicle. The rarefied gas has the Knudsen number with 0.03. The flow with a Mach number 4.35 over the capsule was simulated by DSMC. The distributions of velocity field and temperature around the capsule were calculated. This study may provide some useful information for the reentry of the return vehicle.