Corvid Technologies, LLC (Corvid) and Georgia Institute of Technology (Georgia Tech) propose developing a framework on a modern software architecture utilizing high fidelity, state-of-the-art modeling tools to provide an accurate, but efficient, prediction of the ablating TPS material response in real-time. Three different TPS modeling approaches will be evaluated during Phase I in terms of accuracy, simplicity, robustness and computational speed in order to select the best option to be deployed in a real-time Navy computational platform. The framework will be modular and flexible to continue expanding the capability and be informed by additional experimental data-sets as they become available. Finally, Corvid and Georgia Tech will develop a preliminary test plan for the TPS material(s) chosen by the US Navy.
Benefit: Corvid will develop a software package for modeling the response of thermal protection systems in real-time on a system-level test asset for the U.S. Navy. This capability will expand the Navys capabilities to perform real-time test and evaluation of new and existing hypersonic weapon systems, by providing a rapid prediction of the thermal protection system of a hypersonic vehicle by simply knowing vehicle geometry, trajectory and TPS material information. The work during Phase I will also detail an experimental campaign to obtain the data necessary for the materials of interest to the US Navy. This technology will also be immediately applicable to other existing programs by the end of the Phase II period of performance, minimizing cost, time, and compatibility risks associated with bringing our capability to market. Corvid also subcontracts to several Large Primes in support of weapons design and optimization efforts to which our solution would be directly applicable.
Keywords: Thermal protection system, Thermal protection system, Modeling and Simulation, Hypersonics, Hardware-in-the-Loop