A $17 million grant will allow UT researchers at the Institute for Computational Engineering and Sciences to study vehicles re-entering Earth's atmosphere.
Scientists in the institute's research unit, the Center for Predictive Engineering and Computational Sciences, will develop computer models to determine how likely it is for a vehicle, such as NASA's Orion capsule returning from a moon mission, to survive re-entry.
UT is partnering with Texas A&M University, Florida State University, NASA and the Department of Energy's National Nuclear Security Administration, which is funding the five-year grant.
The models will focus on uncertainty quantification, which helps determine a calculation's degree of reliability. These uncertainties exist because computer-simulation models can contain unknown constants, said Robert Moser, a mechanical engineering professor and director of the center.
"Imagine you are an astronaut circling the globe, and the folks on the ground are running simulations that say it is OK to re-enter with this new trajectory or with some damage," Moser said. "You want to know how good the answer is and how sure you are that it is going to be OK."
The researchers want to take the uncertainties into account and develop a calculation that details what is expected to happen when a vehicle re-enters the Earth's atmosphere and how likely it is to happen.
Omar Ghattas, lead co-investigator and a mechanical engineering and geosciences professor, said it is important to know how much confidence to have in these calculations.
"When you do a calculation, you want to be able to produce not just a single number but a number with bounds on it," Ghattas said. "You want to be able to predict that the probability the vehicle will fail is less than 1 percent."
The computer models the center works with will be complex because of several factors that are taken into account during calculations.
"Predicting how the vehicle will survive re-entry, which is essential for a successful design, requires understanding the response of its ablation layer, a protective layer that is designed to char under high temperatures, during re-entry," Ghattas said. "This, in turn, requires computer modeling of the fluid dynamics, chemistry, radiation transport, heat transfer and ablation experienced by the vehicle."
Moser and Ghattas are working on the project with J. Tinsley Oden, lead co-investigator and director of the institute.
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