Speaker
Bent Fritsche
(HTG)
Description
During re-entry into the Earth's atmosphere a spacecraft encounters strong thermal and mechanical loads. The thermal loads result in heating and eventually thermal failure (e.g. melting, combustion) of some of the spacecraft parts. The mechanical loads can result in bending and eventually breaking of parts. Both effects are considered in state-of-the-art re-entry simulation tools separately, or if combined, in a heuristic manner by trigger events or tailored for specific cases (e.g. for predefined cut planes). The presentation will summarize the outcome of a study on the combined effect of thermal and mechanical loads, which has been investigated numerically and experimentally.
Primary author
Bent Fritsche
(HTG)
