Investigating the Effect of Altitude, Flow Mach Number and Angle of Attack on the Process of Hot Stage Separation of Two-Stage Satellite Launcher

Document Type : Mechanics article

Authors

1 Department of Mechanical Engineering, Malek Ashtar University of Technology, Isfahan, Iran

2 Department of Aerospace Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, University of Isfahan, Isfahan, Iran

3 Department of Aerospace Engineering, Malek Ashtar University of Technology, Tehran, Iran

Abstract

In this research, the numerical analysis of the hot separation process of two stages of a satellite launcher is carried out and the effects of the height at which the separation occurs, as well as the Mach effect of the flow and the angle of attack of the launcher during the separation are analyzed and investigated. Anasys Fluent software was used for numerical analysis. The problem is solved in three dimensions and assuming six degrees of freedom. SST K-ω turbulence model has been used to model the flow and triangular unstructured mesh has been used to grid the computational domain. For validation, the obtained results have been compared with similar research results. The results obtained from the simulation show that with the increase of the height above the ground and also the increase of the Mach of the flow, the stages after separation become further away from each other. Also, with the increase of the angle of attack, the degree of deviation of the steps compared to its previous path has increased, which consequently makes it mandatory to control the stages after hot separation.

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References

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Journal of Modeling in Engineering
Volume 23, Issue 82
October 2025
Pages 1-10

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History

  • Receive Date: 02 January 2024
  • Revise Date: 18 August 2024
  • Accept Date: 01 January 2025

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