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NAS FEATURED NEWS
Columbia Used to Validate Ares I-X Test Vehicle Configuration
Computational models of the Ares I-X test vehicle configuration run on the Columbia supercomputer will help NASA's Constellation Program meet their 2009 launch target.
04.25.07
With the flight test for the Ares I-X launch vehicle just over two years away, NASA Langley Research Center's Steven Bauer, aeronautics lead for the Ares I-X project, has been relying heavily on the Columbia supercomputer to generate highly detailed computational models of the vehicle. Employing the NASA-developed USM3D and OVERFLOW computational fluid dynamics (CFD) codes, Bauer and his team have consumed more than 480,000 processor-hours on Columbia.
Caption: (Above right) Density plot of the DAC-2 configuration of the Ares I-X launch vehicle. (Click on image to enlarge)
Tasked with analyzing the full launch envelope for the Ares I-X, Bauer's team is looking at a wide range of Mach numbers and angles of attack (from 0 degrees to 10 degrees for ascent, and from 0 degrees to 180 degrees for descent). During descent for the first stage, inter-stage/frustum, and upper stage -- the team has primarily been employing OVERFLOW. Additional data for the upper-stage alone is being generated using USM3D and then compared with the OVERFLOW results.
Currently, USM3D is being used to calculate the "rolling moment" caused by the protuberances on the Ares I DAC-2 (Design and Analysis Cycle-2) and the Ares I configuration with protuberances to determine their effect. These grids typically require between 35 and 50 million cells.
Goetz Klopfer of the NASA Advanced Supercomputing Division has done a preliminary review of the stage-separation event using both the Cart3D simulation package and OVERFLOW. These results were used to help set up the stage separation test that will be run in May 2007 in NASA Langley's Unitary Plan Wind Tunnel.
This computational data, coupled with experimental data collected during wind tunnel tests, will be used to generate aerodynamic databases for the ascent, stage-separation, and descent of each component. During the Ares I-X preliminary design review scheduled for the week of May 7, 2007, engineers will examine predicted aerodynamic characteristics and pressure load distributions of the flight-test vehicle, all descent databases, and the stage-separation event.
Successful correlations between wind tunnel test results and these computational models help bring the Constellation Program closer to the targeted April 2009 launch of the 300-foot Ares I-X rocket.
For more information on the Ares I-X test vehicle models, contact: Steven Bauer, Steven.X.Bauer@nasa.gov
For more information on Columbia resources and NAS support services, contact:
William Thigpen,
William.W.Thigpen@nasa.gov
For information about NASA and agency programs on the Web, visit
http://www.nasa.gov/home/
Holly A. Amundson
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