Title:
TCAT - A Tool For Automated Thermal Protection System Design
TCAT - A Tool For Automated Thermal Protection System Design
Author(s)
Cowart, Karl K.
Olds, John R.
Olds, John R.
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Abstract
This paper outlines the development of a new
computational heat transfer tool for generating 1-D
temperature profiles within thermal protection system
materials covering advanced reusable space launch
vehicles. The Thermal Calculation Analysis Tool
(TCAT) also contains an optimization capability to
determine the minimum thickness of thermal
protection materials required to prevent the vehicle
substructure from exceeding its operating
temperature limit. TCAT is designed to be used in the
conceptual design environment with compatible
aeroheating analysis tools and an external materials
database. The code is very fast (executes in minutes)
and easy to use. Both single TPS material constructs
and multi-layer TPS can be analyzed. TCAT is
written in FORTRAN 77. A World Wide Web
interface has also been implemented to allow easy
remote access to the code.
The heat transfer assumptions and numerical
techniques used to develop TCAT are discussed. The
results of two test and validation cases are reported.
The first test case involved TPS designs for a 10
half-angle cone, and the second analyzed TPS
designs on a multiple angle wedge with angles of 5
and 10. The designs involved sizing thermal
protection systems from each of the material groups
available from the WWW interface. The tile
materials that were chosen for the design test cases
produced unit weight values that ranged from 1.4~1.6
lbm/ft2, and the blanket material TPS designs resulted
in average unit weights between 0.4~0.6 lbm/ft2.
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Date Issued
2000-09
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602447 bytes
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Text
Resource Subtype
Paper