Effects of mesh resolution on hypersonic heating prediction

Aeroheating prediction is a challenging and critical problem for the design and optimization of hypersonic vehicles. One challenge is that the solution of the Navier-Stokes equations strongly depends on the computational mesh. In this letter, the effect of mesh resolution on heat flux prediction is studied. It is found that mesh-independent solutions can be obtained using fine mesh, whose accuracy is confirmed by results from kinetic particle simulation. It is analyzed that mesh-induced numerical error comes mainly from the flux calculation in the boundary layer whereas the temperature gradient on the surface can be evaluated using a wall function. Numerical schemes having strong capability of boundary layer capture are therefore recommended for hypersonic heating prediction.