A group of researchers designing cutting-edge hypersonic flight vehicles are set to simulate the design and development of hypersonic systems to shape future space missions.
Through the iLAuNCH Trailblazer, the University of Southern Queensland (UniSQ) is partnering with LEAP Australia to bring the ANSYS suite of software to Toowoomba, Queensland so that researchers can continue designing world-leading high-performance vehicles.
iLAuNCH Trailblazer Executive Director Darin Lovett said: “Through our industry partnership we are making available multi-million-dollar software tools to design and develop high-performance, high-speed vehicles.
“iLAuNCH will provide a hands-on experience in advanced simulation techniques to develop the skilled workforce for the hypersonics projects of the future.”
The project will grow an experienced userbase, trained in advanced simulation tools, to support Australia’s emerging space and aerospace industry.
Queensland and Australia are centres of hypersonics research with Brisbane-based Hypersonix Launch Systems and NASDAQ-listed Kratos Defense & Security Solutions to potentially supply up to 20 DART AE hypersonic systems.
Steering the team of leading scientists from the University of Southern Queensland is Associate Professor Ingo Jahn who is part of the Hypersonics and Rocketry team that worked on NASA’s OSIRIS-REx and JAXA’s Hayabusa2 capsule re-entry missions which involved hypersonic airborne observations.
“We will learn by doing, partnering with LEAP Australia to bring in the powerful suite of ANSYS tools to simulate hypersonic phenomena and missions,” said Project Lead, A/Prof. Jahn.
“We hope to demonstrate capabilities of the ANSYS modelling suite to simulate hypersonic aerodynamics, and to develop a multi-physics workflow to simulate hypervelocity re-entries, including how they can be observed from ground (or airborne) observation station.”
Industry software engineering company, LEAP Australia will provide training on the wide range of applications of their software suite, including modelling aerodynamics and structures in a combined way that is necessary for system engineering these complex vehicles.
“Through training and access, LEAP will upskill UniSQ researchers and personnel by providing them with hands-on experience in advanced simulation techniques, and transfer of these skills to industry,” said LEAP Australia Academic Manager, Nick Foster.
The end result will be a trained workforce and a validated toolset ready to tackle the hypersonics projects of tomorrow.
Further reading:
Hypersonix signs US agreement, could supply up to 20 DART AE platforms to Kratos
Joint Australia-US defence work ramps up
Qld researchers involved in NASA hypersonics study
Pictured: iLaunch/Hypersonic turbulent flow validation of a re-entry vehicle using Ansys Fluent