AIAA 2007-5704

Computational Modeling of Nearfield to Farfield

Plume Expansion
D.B. VanGilder
*
, C.C. Chartrand

, J. Papp

, R. Wilmoth

, and N. Sinha
**

Combustion Research and Flow Technology, Inc., Pipersville, PA, 18947
A hybrid continuum/non-continuum methodology is being developed to model flows in
which rarefaction effects are important while the continuum approach is accurate for parts
of the flowfield. Depending on altitude, rocket and missile exhaust plume expansion can be
modeled using a combination of continuum, direct simulation Monte Carlo (DSMC), or free-
molecular (FM) techniques. The ability to automatically couple these techniques allows for
efficient and accurate modeling of length scales on the orders of kms from the nozzle exit
plane, and parametric studies can easily be performed. The methodology is demonstrated
for an axisymmetric (0 angle of attack) and a 3D (>0 angle of attack) missile configuration.
For the latter calculations, the DSMC solution is coupled to an outer DSMC simulation and
a FM code. The Automatic Efficient Generalized Interface Surface Toolkit (AEGIS Toolkit)
which enables the coupling between the continuum and DSMC codes is described.
Extensions to the methodology for particulates and unsteady flow phenomena are among the
capabilities.
I. Introduction
omputational modeling of rocket and missile exhaust plumes requires accurate physical models and
sophisticated numerical methods. The nearfield plume can be modeled using conventional continuum-based
CFD codes. As this flow expands, it becomes more rarefied. At high altitudes, the interaction of this plume with a
rarefied freestream requires modeling the intermolecular interactions more directly. In this region, the direct
simulation Monte Carlo (DSMC) method is appropriate. When the flow is more rarefied, a free-molecular
approximation is sufficient.
C
Hybrid CFD-DSMC simulations of the plume flowfield typically consist of a continuum nearfield simulated
using continuum-based CFD methods while the rarefied farfield is treated using DSMC methodology. Rarefied
flow modifications are implemented into the continuum flow solver to extend its range of applicability to higher
altitudes and more rarefied conditions, in order to further reduce the computational effort on the non-continuum
solver. An interface surface is generated using some type of continuum/non-continuum breakdown criteria.
Continuum flow values are then interpolated onto this surface and utilized as an inflow boundary for the DSMC
simulation.
Particulates from solid motors are also of interest for high-altitude plume flow characteristics and plume
radiance. Past efforts to simulate particles within the rarefied regime have decoupled the particulate simulation from
the rarefied gas simulation
1
. Now the particulates are included in both the CRAFT CFD

code and the DAC/PDAC

codes.
This paper describes a unique Automatic Efficient Generalized Interface Surface Toolkit (AEGIS Toolkit) that
has been developed for separating continuum and rarefied non-continuum regions along a continuum breakdown
surface. It has been designed and tested to automatically generate an interface surface based on a CRAFT CFD

2-3

solution and output this surface with appropriate properties in the format needed by the Direct Simulation Monte
Carlo (DSMC) Analysis Code (DAC) developed at NASA Johnson
4
. However, the methodology and the
procedures used are general. This methodology has been shown previously for zero angle of attack at high altitudes
where axisymmetric calculations are sufficient
5
. The present study includes a generic missile flying at high altitude

*
Research Scientist, 6210 Kellers Church Rd, Pipersville, PA, AIAA Member.

Research Scientist, 6210 Kellers Church Rd, Pipersville, PA, AIAA Member.

Senior Research Scientist, 6210 Kellers Church Rd, Pipersville, PA, AIAA Member.

Principal Research Scientist, 124 Burnham Place, Newport News, VA, AIAA Associate Fellow.
**
Vice President and Technical Director, 6210 Kellers Church Rd, Pipersville, PA, AIAA Associate Fellow.

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AIAA 2007-5704
at a moderate angle of attack. Since the non-zero angle of attack breaks the symmetry, full 3D simulations are
required. Thus, 3D CRAFT CFD

and DAC calculations are performed. Application of the AEGIS toolkit to this
3D problem is described. The coupling of two DAC flow regions is also described. This coupling allows for a
larger farfield domain without the inefficiencies encountered in a single large DSMC calculation. Results from
coupling DAC results to a free-molecular code are also presented.
II. Methodology
A. CRAFT CFD Navier-Stokes Solver
The Navier Stokes calculations described in this work are performed using the CRAFT CFD

code
2
. CRAFT
CFD

uses is a finite-volume, second or third order upwind Roe TVD formulation. A number of options are
available for thermophysical modeling of high-speed flows, turbulence modeling, and multiphase modeling
(Eulerian or Lagrangian). Some CRAFT CFD

features are presented in Table 1. Features related to rarefied flows

include the addition of a surface slip model and non-local thermal equilibrium (NLTE) using a Landau-Teller
relaxation rate based on Millikan and White relaxation times
6
.

Table 1. Current Features of CRAFT CFD

Code
NUMERICS/PARALLEL
PROCESSING
1D/2D/AXI/3D Finite-Volume Discretization
Implicit, ADI and L/U, Higher-Order Upwind (Roe/TVD) Formulation
Fully Implicit Source Terms/Boundary Conditions
PNS Spatial Marching Capability
Domain-Decomposition Parallel Architecture with MPI
Shared Memory Parallelism
Preconditioning Extensions
GRID FEATURES
Grid Dynamics to Account for Moving Boundaries
Grid Patching/Blanking for Complex Geometries
Solution-Adaptive Gridding and Grid Embedding
Noncontiguous Grid Interfacing with Flux Preservation Across Domains
THERMO-CHEMISTRY
Multi-Component Real Gas Mixtures
Finite-Rate Chemistry/Arbitrary Number of Species and Reactions
Fully Implicit Source Term Linearization
MULTIPHASE FLOW Non-equilibrium Particle/Droplet Solvers (Eulerian and Lagrangian Formulations)
TURBULENCE
k /EASM Formulations with Compressibility/Vortical Upgrades
LES Subgrid Scale Models Algebraic and One-equation
RAREFIED FLOW
Slip Boundary Conditions
Vibrational non-local thermal equilibrium energy modeling

B. DAC/PDAC DSMC Solver
The Direct Simulation Monte Carlo (DSMC) Analysis Code or DAC is utilized to perform DSMC calculations
in the present work. The DAC package was primarily developed by LeBeau et al.
4
and is a collection of programs
that are used in the analysis of rarefied flows for either three-dimensional or axisymmetric geometries. DAC
follows the standard DSMC methodology
7
where simulated molecules, each representing many real molecules, are
statistically tracked as they travel through the computational volume and undergo collisions with each other and
with solid surfaces. A grid is used in the computational volume in order to facilitate the selection of nearest
neighbor collision pairs and in order to obtain statistical samples for macroscopic flowfield quantities.
The computational grid is divided into a Cartesian network of Level 1 cells, with equally spaced cells in each
coordinate direction
8
. The cell size is typically defined by the user as the maximum size needed to resolve the flow,
approximately the mean free path of the freestream. For regions of higher gas density, each Level 1 cell can be
independently refined an additional level. These Level 2 cells are themselves a Cartesian grid imbedded in each
Level 1 grid cell with equal spacing in each coordinate direction, so directional bias can be maintained. The Level 2

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AIAA 2007-5704
grid refinement is required to provide accuracy by maintaining collision modeling cells on the order of a mean free
path. A new feature in DAC allows the refinement to be relaxed by using the nearest neighbor collision pairing
9
.
Automatic grid adaptation varies the number of Level 2 cells in each parent Level 1 cell based on the previous
solutions density. Grid adaptation allows features such as the plume induced separation and plume edge to be
realized as opposed to the original coarse grid solution. The main DAC features are presented in Table 2.
Extensions to DAC, called PDAC, include particulate and unsteady flow capabilities.

Table 2. Features Of DAC
Implements the Direct Simulation Monte Carlo Technique for 3D and Axisymmetric
Simulations
Tracks Molecular Motion Deterministically and Molecular Collisions Probabilistically
General Boundary Conditions for Wide Range of Problems
Domain-Decomposition Parallel Architecture with MPI
Distributed Memory Parallelism
Pre-Processor and DSMC Codes Can Be Run In Scalar or Parallel Modes
NUMERICS/
PARALLEL
PROCESSING
Automatic, Dynamic Load Balancing
Automatic Flowfield Grid Generation Using Two-Level Embedded Grid Technology
Automatic Flowfield Grid Adaptation Based on Previous Solution
GRID FEATURES
Unstructured Grid Definitions of Complex 3D Geometries Embedded Within Cartesian
Flowfield Grid Framework
Multi-Component Real Gas Mixtures
Translational, Rotational, and Vibrational Non-Equilibrium Energy Exchange
Finite-Rate Non-Equilibrium Chemistry/Arbitrary Number of Species and Reactions
Chemical Reactions Modeled on Molecular Level Via Probabilistic Kinetic Theory
Limited Reactions Sets Provided But Additional Sets Can Be Added by User
THERMO-
CHEMISTRY
Extended Reaction Sets for Missile Plume and Divert Jets

1. Particulate Extensions
The one-way coupled version of PDAC implements the same empirical drag and heat transfer models as CRAFT
CFD

, and details of the PDAC implementation are given in Reference [5]. PDAC performs post-DSMC analysis
of the particulate transport based on a previous hybrid continuum-DSMC simulation.
Two-way coupled methods that allow particle to gas momentum and energy transfer as well have been explored.
Reference [10] describes a heat-bath model and compares it to the model by Burt and Boyd (BBG)
11
using a 1D
code for a simple two-phase equilibrium test problem. It is assumed in both of these methods that the number
density of solid particulates is much different than the number density of gas molecules such that different scale
factors, i.e., number of real particles represented by each simulation particle, are required to scale the simulated
densities to the real densities. For typical mass loadings (typically a few percent or less) of micron-sized Al
2
O
3

particles, this assumption is generally true. For example, the number densities of gas molecules are typically of the
order 10
10
times greater than the solid particle number densities due to the large difference in mass per particle
compared to the molecular mass. Therefore, direct simulations with a single number density scale factor for
molecules and particles would be impractical since they would require the total number of simulation molecules and
particles to be greater than 10
10
in order to provide adequate statistics.
The BBG model, described in Reference [11], uses the Gallis free-molecular analysis, modified to account for
internal degrees of freedom in the gas molecule, to transfer energy to the particle. An analogous procedure is used
for drag. The method to treat gas-particle collisions that transfer momentum and energy from the particle to the gas
is analogous to that used for gas-gas collisions in a typical DSMC calculation. However, with different gas and
particle weighting factors, it is shown to conserve energy and momentum on average. The heat-bath model is an
alternate approach that was developed to ensure detailed balance on a macroscopic level within each simulation cell
during each time step. In this method, the energy transferred from the gas to the particle is stored in a heat bath
and later distributed to (subtracted from) the gas molecules. During each time step, the energy transferred to the
solid particle is calculated in the same manner as in the BBG model. However, the total energy transferred to
particles within a cell is stored and the particle temperatures are updated as in the BBG model. A proportional

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AIAA 2007-5704
amount of energy is subtracted from each gas molecule ( p
p
g
N
E
N

) such that the total energy is conserved. Kinetic

(translational) and internal energy contributions are computed separately such that the method maintains the proper
partitioning of energy between modes. While this macroscopic approach does not simulate the detailed non-
equilibrium effects of gas-particle collisions provided by the BBG method, it has been found in representative tests
that the actual change in energy per gas molecule per time step is typically a very small fraction of the total energy
per molecule (<1%). Furthermore, the change in molecular energy is randomly redistributed among other gas
molecules through gas-gas collisions.
2. Unsteady Extensions
The development of an unsteady, hybrid continuum-DSMC method would allow modeling of transient plume
phenomena. However, it presents a considerable challenge. A one-way coupled unsteady hybrid approach has been
reported previously
12
with application to a simple spherical expansion. That study used a simple one-dimensional,
spherically-symmetric unsteady DSMC code developed by Bird which produced results comparable to those for a
continuum calculation. The study demonstrated that hybrid coupling could be accomplished by simply providing
the temporal solution from the continuum solution as a boundary condition to the DSMC code at a fixed spatial
location and continuing the DSMC calculation out to larger distances from the spherical boundary.
Substantial progress has been made in extending this methodology to PDAC. While DAC does not contain
explicit unsteady capability, the DSMC methodology is inherently unsteady, and DAC can be run in a time-accurate
mode on the first-level uniform grid. However, to achieve adequate statistical sampling, a very large number of
simulated molecules would be required in each cell, and even fairly simple unsteady problems would require
significant computational resources. Therefore, the first step in the development of an unsteady version of PDAC
has been to incorporate ensemble averaging of the flowfield properties at discrete time intervals. In essence, the
simulation is repeated a number of times with different random number seeds and using a relatively small number of
simulation molecules. The samples are then accumulated at specific times or time intervals to obtain adequate
statistics. The approach allows for additional samples to be added to the previous aggregate. Additions to PDAC
which permit interpretation of a time-varying source and/or wall boundary conditions in a more general manner
have been incorporated in order to couple to an unsteady continuum code. The boundary condition input was
modified to permit time variation of each of the source properties on all surfaces. The variation can be given by a
specified function or by values that are read from a file. Capabilities to initialize the flow to specified starting
conditions, such as freestream or ambient conditions, have also been developed.
C. AEGIS Toolkit
Although a hybrid continuum/DSMC coupling technique has been developed and utilized in many applications
in the past, the process of generating the interface surface can still be cumbersome and inefficient.
Oversimplification of the interface surface(s) through the use of common shapes (ellipsoids, cones, spheres, etc.)
saves time in surface generation but often impacts the computational effort and/or accuracy, especially if the
determined breakdown region is complex. Consequently, a simplified surface that does not fit the desired
breakdown contour may either encompass too much continuum flow resulting in an inefficient DSMC simulation, or
encompass too much rarefied flow resulting in an inaccurate boundary condition for the DSMC simulation. In an
effort to address these issues, the unique Automatic Efficient Generalized Interface Surface Toolkit (AEGIS
Toolkit) has been developed to automatically generate an interface surface that separates the continuum and rarefied
non-continuum regions where the continuum assumption is less accurate.
As the name implies, the AEGIS Toolkit contains a set of procedures designed to efficiently proceed from a
continuum solution to DSMC initialization. A summary of the process is described in Figure 1 while the key
components are described in Table 3. This toolkit is an extension of the Arbitrary Breakdown Surface Generation
(ABSG) technique described previously
5
where it was applied to axisymmetric plumes and simplified separation
zones. However, the AEGIS Toolkit has been extended beyond the basic ABSG methodology to accommodate
more generalized flow features, interface regions, and interface (breakdown) parameters.






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Table 3. AEGIS Component Descriptions
Component Description
BreakDn Interface parameter generator
GDM2D/GDM3D Triangulated surface generator based on cost minimization relative to user defined
constraints and interface parameter
GTSOps Interface to GNU Triangulated Surface toolkit Boolean functions
Interp Tool to interpolated flow results onto interface surface
GenDACSD Generate DAC Surface Definition file (may also interpolate)


Figure 1. Schematic Of AEGIS Operation.

At the heart of the AEGIS Toolkit is still the Geometrically Deformed Model (GDM).methodology
13
. This
methodology employs a cost minimization algorithm based on image (breakdown parameter), topology (surface
elasticity), and deformation (forcing function) parameters to produce a continuous and water-tight triangulated
surface. Symbolically, the procedure can be thought of as a balloon expanding within a cage. As the balloon is
inflated (deformation), it gradually takes on the shape of the cage while the surface elasticity (topology) of the
balloon prevents it from leaking out any of the holes. Eventually, a point is reached where the balloon cannot
expand without violating any of the constraints and the final surface is produced. Because the methodology can
accommodate discontinuous image functions (the cage with openings) and the smoothness is maintained as a
constraint, an appropriate coupling boundary surface can be obtained from an often times complex and
discontinuous field function.
Although the GDM process can easily generate an interface surface, this surface is initially free-floating, fully
three-dimensional, and not tied to any geometric (body) surface. The earlier ABSG methodology utilized simplified
procedures to stitch the final GDM surface to a body, typically a nozzle exit, as well as take advantage of any
symmetry. Consequently, the process was very specialized and not prone to modification to more generalized
features. To alleviate this deficiency, the AEGIS Toolkit implements some of the capabilities of the GNU
Triangulated Surface (GTS) toolkit
14
.
The GTS toolkit is an Open Source Free Software that contains numerous features for the triangulation of 2D
parameterized surfaces and, more importantly, for performing boolean manipulation of these surfaces, such as
unions, intersections, and differences. Such a methodology is utilized by AEGIS to perform such actions as merge a
body to GDM surface, merge a GDM surface to another GDM surface, symmetry cutting, etc., efficiently and, more
importantly, automatically. Unfortunately, the GTS Boolean process often produces collinear or very skewed
triangular elements which have to be extricated. Presently a procedure of either point removal or edge shifting is
performed to accomplish this task.
Define Interface
Parameter
Generate
Surface
GTS
Operations
Generate
DACSD
Interpolate
Continuum
Solution
DAC
Simulation
AEGIS
Toolkit

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An example of the image identification and surface generation process is shown in Figure 2 through Figure 4.
The process begins by choosing an appropriate image constraint that will define the location of breakdown. This
may be the Bird breakdown parameter or similar such variable. In this case, the parameter is the density of a plume
species. As can be seen, the surface is discontinuous and contains a gap due to the multi-block nature of the solution
(Figure 2a). Once an appropriate image is determined, the GDM process begins by introducing a seed surface
within the image constraint (Figure 2b). Through the deformation process, the initial seed surface grows until it is
constrained by the image (Figure 2c through Figure 2e). As can be seen by the comparison of the final surface with
the image constraint, the fit is quite good. Due to the topological constraint, the points do not leak out from the
gaps.


(a) (b) (c)

(d) (e) (f) Comparison to image constraint
Figure 2. Demonstration Of Surface Generation Using GDM Methodology Within AEGIS Toolkit.

After completion of the surface generation, there is a gap between the body and the intended body interface
(Figure 3a). Because DAC requires a water-tight surface grid, this gap must be removed and the surface stitched to
the body. This is accomplished through the GTS boolean operator tool within AEGIS. The user can choose from
several basic interface shapes and operations in order to generate the final interface surface. In this case, the
interface points along the nozzle lip are defined along with a normal direction and cone angle in order to generate
the initial cone surface (Figure 3b). The GTS union operation is then performed to produce the fully integrated
interface surface (Figure 3c).
At this point, the surface is technically water-tight. However, the GTS operation tends to create an excessive
amount of element skewness as it strictly applies the Boolean operation (Figure 4a). This cell skewness can result in
near zero area cells that are not degenerate but collinear. Such elements cause difficulty with DACs pre-processing
program (PREDAC). Consequently, after the GTS process, highly skewed cells are extricated using the various
methods shown in Figure 4b. The final result of this process is shown in Figure 4c. As can be seen, the skewed
cells are removed and the topology of the region is much improved. The only thing left at this point is to interpolate
any flow results onto inflow surfaces and export the data in the desired DSMC file format.
Application of the AEGIS Toolkit to a straight back plume and divert jet are shown in Figure 5 and Figure 6
respectively. In both these cases, the Bird parameter is chosen as the image constraint. Due to its derivative nature,
the iso-surface can be very discontinuous, which is especially evident in the divert jet case. However, the AEGIS
Toolkit has no problem generating the final interface surface. The AEGIS Toolkit has also been applied to a re-
entry vehicle geometry
15
.

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(a) (b) Generic cone geometry (c) GTS boolean operation
Figure 3. Generating of interface to body using GTS Toolkit.









(a) (b) (c)
Figure 4. Demonstration Of Cell Modification To Remove Skewed Elements.





(a) (b)
Figure 5. Application Of AEGIS To Straight-Back Plume.






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(a) Initial Bird parameter (b) GDM seed surface

(c) GDM growth (d) Final GDM surface

(e) Forward view GDM surface (f) GTS operation

(g) Final interface surface
Figure 6. Application of AEGIS to divert jet.
D. DAC-to-DAC
For length scales of interest, 100s of meters to kilometers from the missile exit plane, the plume number density
decreases by several orders of magnitude. Continuum methods are needed for the inner core, then, DSMC modeling
is appropriate for rarefied regions in which the collisions are still important. Eventually, a free-molecular
approximation is sufficient. Given the requirements of a sufficient molecule count for collisions and statistics and
the scaling of grid cells to the mean free path, the size of the intermediate DSMC region can require substantial
computational size and times. DAC has a 2-level grid structure, so that grid resolution can vary with densities. This
structure also allows for time step and the real-to-simulated molecule ratios to vary between cells. Thus, the
collisional behavior is better captured. However, this approach becomes less computationally efficient as the
variations in density for the domain increase. For example, the fluxing of molecules across cell boundaries with
different ratios and time steps requires cloning and destroying of molecules. A simple approach to address this issue
is to couple the DSMC domain to another (outer) DSMC domain analogous to the CFD to DSMC coupling. An

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AIAA 2007-5704
automated procedure has been developed to take the inner PDAC (or DAC) solution and put density, velocity, and
temperatures onto a new triangulated surface for an outer PDAC (or DAC) calculation. PDAC has an optional
feature that permits each species of a source flow to have its own rotational and/or vibrational temperature specified.
This multi-temperature feature is necessary to ensure that the non-equilibrium flow characteristics (that the DSMC
method captures) are propagated to the outer DSMC domain.
At high altitudes, as the plume expands collisions become less significant and a free-molecular (FM) description
is adequate at sufficient distances from the nozzle exit. For example, the steady-state density field resulting from a
mass flow rate with bulk velocity u
e
is given by: m&
[ ]
2 2
sin 2 2 2 2
2
cos 1
( ) cos exp( cos ) ( cos ) 1 ( cos )
2
s
m
x e s s s erf s
A r

= + + +


& r
(1)
where is
1
2RT
, s is the speed ratio *u
e
, is the angle between u
e
and x, and is the angle between the nozzle
exit plane and x
16
. Similarly, other flow properties such as velocity and temperature can be obtained from various
moments of solution. Thus, the mass, momentum, and energy fluxes across a DSMC or CFD domain boundary can
be used for a FM calculation of the farfield plume. A FM code that calculates these properties on a Cartesian grid
using the projection of an inflow in the DAC surface format (which is described by properties on a triangulated
surface) has been used in this study.
III. Results
As a demonstration of the methodology described in the previous section, a generic missile configuration at an
altitude where the freestream is sufficiently rarefied is chosen. Thus, the direct simulation Monte Carlo technique is
appropriate for plume and freestream interactions, while the plume near the missile is captured using the continuum
method. A zero angle of attack case is simulated, so that axisymmetric calculations can be performed. A more
detailed discussion of axisymmetric results has been reported previously 5 Additional simulations were performed
for a moderate angle of attack in order to demonstrate the application to a 3D problem. For these simulations, the
inner PDAC solutions were then coupled to a free-molecular code and to an outer PDAC calculation.
The axisymmetric results are shown in Figure 7a and Figure 7b. The upper parts of both figures include the
CRAFT CFD

solution inside the interface boundary (highlighted in black) along with the PDAC solution that uses
the values on the interface boundary as input. Results for both translational temperature and number density show a
continuity of solution across the boundary. Discrepancies in temperature reflect the attention given to modeling the
shock layer and its interaction with the plume in the DSMC calculation. It was found that at high altitudes that the
plume core calculated by CFD is insignificantly influenced by the freestream. The number density contours in
Figure 7b are in good agreement.


a) Translational temperature: upper PDAC /lower
CRAFT CFD

b) Number density: upper PDAC /lower CRAFT
CFD

Figure 7. Temperature And Number Density Contours Comparing CRAFT CFD

And PDAC For

Axisymmetric Case.



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A comparison of CRAFT CFD

and PDAC results for the 3D case are shown in Figure 8a and Figure 8b. The
interface boundary is included, and the CFD solution is enclosed within it. Again the continuity of solution across
the boundary is maintained. A slight decrease in density across this boundary near the missiles nozzle can be seen.
The one-way coupling assumption is less accurate when the flow is mostly tangential to the boundary, which is the
case in this region. However, this difference becomes negligible for farfield values.


a) Translational temperature b) Number density
Figure 8. Temperature And Number Density Contours Comparing CRAFT CFD

And PDAC For 3D Case.

These 3D inner PDAC solutions were then coupled to an outer PDAC simulation. Some sample results are
shown in Figure 9-Figure 13. The contours for each figure are for the symmetry plane (z=0). The number density
and velocity contours (Figure 9, Figure 10, and Figure 11) indicate that the method is properly propagating the flux
of the gas across interface boundaries. Figure 12 and Figure 13 show the translational and rotational temperatures at
the lower y boundary. These figures indicate the importance of preserving the non-equilibrium information.
Although additional effort is needed in determining the proper resolution at the interface boundary, the close-up
views do show better agreement when the multiple temperature feature is used. The overall temperature, which is a
weight by mode of translational and internal energies, is generally less that the translational temperature due to
dissociation of the diatomic molecules and the lower relaxation rate of the internal modes. Therefore, the single
temperature used is low compared to the inner translational temperature (see Figure 12b). The rotational
temperature differences (Figure 13a and b) are not as significant here. However, vibrational temperatures were
found to be quite different in the shock layer. Thus, preserving these values from one DSMC calculation to the
other is important.


Figure 9. Number Density
Contours.
Figure 10. U-Velocity Contours. Figure 11. V-Velocity Contours.
.

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(a) (b)
Figure 12. Translational Temperature Contours For a) Multi-Temperature And b) Single Temperature.


(a)
(b)
Figure 13. Rotational Temperature Contours For a) Multi-Temperature And b) Single Temperature.


This simple technique for DAC-to-DAC coupling does a good job of preserving flux across the boundaries for a
plume expansion problem. Using the multiple temperature option also allows the internal energy to be properly
represented. Depending on the level of detail needed, this approach is likely sufficient for describing a plume
expansion. However, a macroscopic approach which enforces an equilibrium distribution may not accurately
describe the distribution functions, especially in a multiple species flow. Applications in which detailed energy
distributions are important may require a microscopic approach. By setting up molecule files which capture a
representative sample of molecules from the inner solution, the outer solution can sample these files to introduce
molecules. These molecules would then do a reasonable job of preserving the distribution across the interface as
long as a sufficient number of molecules needed to maintain proper flux conservation is used. This value is
proportional to the scaling of the number of real molecules to simulated molecules and the change in time step
across the interface. This approach has been used successfully by Bird
7
.
Figure 14a-c show results from coupling the inner PDAC simulation to a free-molecular calculation that projects
the solution to 1 km from the nose of the missile. In order to avoid the discontinuity at the boundaries caused by the
1/r
2
dependence inaccuracies for r~0, a surface was chosen slightly inside the DSMC domain. The number density
and velocities are well-captured in most of the flow. It is important to note that the anomalies near the DSMC
boundary have no effect on the FM solution in the farfield, since each grid point strictly depends on summing the
contributions from each source at the coupling surface. In fact, a grid is not required at all for the FM solution, and
a FM farfield solution could be obtained at an arbitrary single or set of points.
Differences can be seen in much of the outer region compared to the outer PDAC calculation. The FM solution
represents the plume and its interaction with the freestream only before the interface boundary. This outer result
does not include the freestream contribution or its interaction with this inner flow. This explains the discontinuity
across the upper y boundary for v-velocity in Figure 14c. Since the flow velocity is directed away from the higher
y region, there is a very low density there. Thus, the average v-velocity is skewed. Inclusion of the freestream
contribution would give a more realistic flowfield here, however this contribution would be duplicative at other
places in the flowfield, eg. in the +x-direction. The DSMC solution is more accurate for the farfield, because it
captures this freestream contribution directly and the collisions that occur. For proper treatment, the coupling
between the DSMC and FM should be based on a local Knudsen number.

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a) Number density

b) U-velocity

c) V-velocity
Figure 14. DSMC-To-FM Contours At Symmetry Plane.
IV. Conclusion
The coupling of the CRAFT CFD

continuum flow solver and the DAC DSMC flow solver has been
demonstrated for a 3D application. The development of the Automatic Efficient Generalized Interface Surface
Toolkit (AEGIS Toolkit) has enabled 3D and/or complex interface surfaces to be created and appropriate properties
output for the surface with minimal user intervention. The coupling methodology has been applied to a high altitude
missile configuration. To capture the farfield plume structure, these solutions are then coupled to an additional
DSMC simulation or a free-molecular calculation using scripts to automate the process. Thus, a method for
modeling the nearfield to farfield plume expansion using the best appropriate model in each region has been
developed. Extensions for particulates and unsteady flow phenomena are also available which can be important
when simulating high altitude plume flowfields.
Acknowledgments
Portions of this work were funded by ARDECOM.
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