Flow-material solver for charring ablators

What is it about?

We report here the recent development of a numerical tool to study the interaction of a high-temperature flow with a porous material. Those materials are complex composites made up of carbon fibers with a phenolic resin, and are used for example in the thermal protection system of spacecraft. In this work we focus in particular on the treatment of the pyrolysis reactions and the verification steps of the numerical solver.

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Why is it important?

It is the first time that pyrolysis reactions are considered in a unified flow-material approach (i.e. the fluid and material are simulated in the same domain of computation). It will help to understand better and to reproduce more accurately the interaction between the high-enthalpy flow and the complex material.