Hybrid Particle-Continuum Numerical Methods for Aerospace Applications

Abstract

Often, rare ed ows of interest in aerospace applications are embedded within largely continuum ow elds. Neither continuum nor kinetic methods provide both physically accurate and numerically e cient techniques to simulate the entire ow eld. Instead, multi-scale methods can provide the capability of achieving the e ciency of continuum methods in regions where the degree of collisional nonequilibrium is small, while maintaining the physical accuracy of kinetic methods in rare ed portions of the ow. This work begins with an outline of typical aerospace ows that may require a multi-scale analysis in order to make accurate and e cient predictions. It then provides an overview of the research performed in developing hybrid methods for partially rare ed gas ows. Finally, some results derived from current state of the art hybrid codes are presented and emerging developments are described. 1