Open Access

ARTICLE

Modeling in Thermal Behavior of Charring Materials

Weijie Li¹, Haiming Huang^1,2, Bangcheng Ai³, Ye Tian¹

1 Institute of Engineering Mechanics, Beijing Jiaotong University, Beijing, 100044, China.
2 Corresponding author. E-mail: huanghaiming@tsinghua.org.cn
3 China Academy of Aerospace Aerodynamics, Beijing, 100074, China.

Computers, Materials & Continua 2014, 43(3), 175-196. https://doi.org/10.3970/cmc.2014.043.175

Abstract

Physical and mathematical models are the key to analyze thermal behavior of charring materials in the thermal protection system of reentry vehicles subjected to aerodynamic heating. To explore the thermal behavior of charring ablator, we developed and compared two models (pyrolysis interface model and pyrolysis layer model) with pyrolysis and surface recession. Taking AVCOAT composites as an example, its nonlinear thermal behavior, which are caused by temperature dependent thermal properties, moving interfaces and moving boundary, were simulated using the calculation codes written respectively on the basis of the pyrolysis layer model and the pyrolysis interface model. Numerical results indicate that the nonlinear calculation is easier by the pyrolysis interface model than by the pyrolysis layer model; on the other hand, the selection of the pyrolysis interface temperature is complicated but significant in the calculation on thermal behavior of charring materials. This study will be helpful for the design of the thermal protection system in reentry vehicles.

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Keywords

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