Ahead of the DART model rocket engine tests, members are working on computational fluid dynamics (CFD) analysis with STAR-CCM+ Software. Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) is the analysis of fluid flows using numerical solution methods. Using CFD, you are able to analyze complex problems involving fluid-fluid, fluid-solid or fluid-gas interaction. The images show some analyses that display the streamlines around the rocket by a change of incidence and speed.
The first analysis was carried out at low speed, while the incidences are shown in the figure. Thanks to streamlines, you can see how the wings straighten the flow, avoiding the generation of vorticity phenomena in the tail. Furthermore, in these first three figures the points at higher local speed, represented with violet vectors, are also those at lower pressure. They are placed on the leading edge of the wings.
The two last CFD were carried out at higher speed and with the introduction of the pressure distribution on the rocket. These underline how the lower pressures, represented with white colour, are in fact placed on the leading edge of the wings.