Launch Pad Rocket Plume Simulations Supporting NASA’s Artemis Missions
To support NASA’s Artemis missions launching aboard the new Space Launch System, the Launch Ascent and Vehicle Aerodynamics (LAVA) team in the NASA Advanced Supercomputing Division are pushing the state of the art for predicting exhaust plume impingement in launch environments. These plumes pose a safety hazard by creating unwanted forces and vibrations that may damage the launch pad and support structures, such as during the Artemis I launch, where the doors to the launch tower elevators were damaged by the pressure generated by the plumes.
The team performed twelve simulations, focusing on six different instants in time after ignition along two different trajectories: Artemis I and Artemis II Max Drift. Artemis I is the trajectory followed by the vehicle launch on November 16, 2022, while the Artemis II Max Drift is a simulated trajectory, corresponding to a worst-case scenario where the vehicle drifts very close to the tower used to bring astronauts to the Orion capsule. These simulations are being used to analyze the pressure environment caused by the plume impingement on the launch pad and surrounding structures. The simulations of Artemis I launch serve the additional purpose of performing detective work to better understand how the elevator doors were damaged, so they can be rebuilt to withstand the blast.
Quick Facts
Significant supercomputing resources are allowing us to respond quickly to the needs of Kennedy Space Center’s launch pad engineers as they prepare for the extremely harsh environment delivered by the Space Launch System’s exhaust plumes as they blast the mobile launcher and tower.
- Each high-order accurate LAVA Cartesian plume simulation typically uses 150 AMD Rome nodes for one to three days on NASA’s Aiken supercomputer—accumulating roughly 100 terabytes of volume and surface data—to simulate four seconds where the vehicle is held fixed at certain trajectory points between three and fifteen seconds after ignition.
- Fluid dynamics simulations of plume impingement on the pad and tower at various stages of liftoff are useful for understanding complex flow physics including flow turning, unsteady loading, and potentially damaging load regions like the base of the tower’s elevator shaft.
- Launch pad engineers at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center are actively hardening the mobile launcher and tower in preparation for future launches. These simulations are helping to identify and quantify plume impingement loads to improve understanding and safety for future launches.
- The LAVA team plans to continue to develop the LAVA Cartesian flow solver to support NASA’s Artemis launch programs, including improved multiphase capabilities, prescribed motion liftoff, and further main flame deflector analysis.
Researchers
- Michael Barad, NASA Ames Research Center Please enable Javascript to see email address.
- Scott Neuhoff, NASA Ames Research Center Please enable Javascript to see email address.
