Modeling high-speed gas-particle flows relevant to spacecraft landings: A review and perspectives

TL;DR

This paper reviews the current state and future perspectives of modeling high-speed gas-particle flows during spacecraft landings, emphasizing the importance of numerical methods due to experimental challenges in extraterrestrial environments.

Contribution

It provides a comprehensive overview of existing drag laws, insights from numerical simulations, and perspectives on modeling multiphase flows relevant to spacecraft plume-surface interactions.

Findings

Overview of drag laws from historical and numerical studies

Discussion on challenges of experimental investigations in extraterrestrial conditions

Highlighting the role of numerical modeling for future space missions

Abstract

The interactions between rocket exhaust plumes and the surface of extraterrestrial bodies during spacecraft landings involve complex multiphase flow dynamics that pose significant risk to space exploration missions. The two-phase flow is characterized by high Reynolds and Mach number conditions with particle concentrations ranging from dilute to close-packing. Low atmospheric pressure and gravity typically encountered in landing environments combined with reduced optical access by the granular material pose significant challenges for experimental investigations. Consequently, numerical modeling is expected to play an increasingly important role for future missions. This article presents a review and perspectives on modeling high-speed disperse two-phase flows relevant to plume-surface interactions (PSI). We present an overview of existing drag laws, with origins from 18th-century cannon fire experiments and new insights from particle-resolved numerical simulations. While the focus here is on multiphase flows relevant to PSI, much of the same physics are shared by other compressible gas-particle flows, such as coal-dust explosions, volcanic eruptions, and detonation of solid material.