Numerical Assessment of Magnetohydrodynamic Heat Flux Mitigation for Pico-Sized Entry Capsule Mockup

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Numerical Assessment of Magnetohydrodynamic Heat Flux Mitigation for Pico-Sized Entry Capsule Mockup

Müller, Robin A. / Pagan, Adam S. / Upadhyay, Partho P. / Herdrich, Georg

The present study focuses on the influence of applied magnetic fields on argon plasma flows to assess the magnetohydrodynamics (MHD) effects on a pico-sized reentry capsule and their potential as a secondary thermal protection system. It was conducted with numerical methods, using the MHD code SAMSA. Different design adaptations for the capsule were created to integrate neodymium permanent magnets into its nose cone. The adapted design was then modeled in SAMSA, and simulations were carried out for freestream cases and one ground-based test scenario in a plasma wind tunnel, with varying standardized magnetic field strengths between 0.1 T and 1.0 T, and using argon as a working gas. To assess the effectiveness of the applied magnetic field as a secondary thermal protection system, the convective heat flux at the stagnation point and along the capsule’s front surface was analyzed. The results show a conclusive influence of MHD effects, with a reduction of the convective heat flux at the stagnation point by up to 57% and a reduction of the overall heat flux across the front surface by up to 20%. It is found that the best results with regard to heat flux mitigation are attained at comparatively low to moderate magnetic field strengths.