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From Coils to Surface Recession: Fully Coupled Simulation of Ablation in ICP Wind Tunnels

Sanjeev Kumar, Alessandro Munafo, Blaine Vollmer, Daniel J. Bodony, Gregory S. Elliott, Kelly A. Stephani, Sean Kearney, Marco Panesi

Abstract

This work presents a fully coupled, multiphysics computational framework for predicting the thermo-chemical material response of thermal protection systems in inductively coupled plasma (ICP) wind tunnels. The framework integrates a high-fidelity Navier-Stokes plasma solver, an electromagnetic field solver, and a discontinuous-Galerkin material response solver using a partitioned coupling strategy. This enables an ab initio, end-to-end simulation of the 350 kW Plasmatron X facility at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (UIUC), including plasma generation, electromagnetic heating, near-wall thermochemistry, and time-accurate material ablation. The model captures key ICP physics such as vortex-mode recirculation, Joule-heating-driven plasma formation, and Lorentz-force-induced flow confinement, and accurately predicts the transition from subsonic to supersonic jet behavior at low pressures. Validation against cold-wall calorimetry and graphite ablation experiments shows that predicted stagnation-point heat fluxes fall well within experimental uncertainty, while fully coupled simulations accurately reproduce measured stagnation temperature histories and recession rates with errors below 12% and 10%, respectively. Remaining discrepancies during early transient heating are attributed to uncertainties in power-coupling efficiency, equilibrium ablation modeling, and material property datasets. Overall, the framework demonstrates strong predictive capability for ICP wind tunnel environments and provides a foundation for improved design, interpretation, and planning of hypersonic material testing campaigns.

From Coils to Surface Recession: Fully Coupled Simulation of Ablation in ICP Wind Tunnels

Abstract

This work presents a fully coupled, multiphysics computational framework for predicting the thermo-chemical material response of thermal protection systems in inductively coupled plasma (ICP) wind tunnels. The framework integrates a high-fidelity Navier-Stokes plasma solver, an electromagnetic field solver, and a discontinuous-Galerkin material response solver using a partitioned coupling strategy. This enables an ab initio, end-to-end simulation of the 350 kW Plasmatron X facility at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (UIUC), including plasma generation, electromagnetic heating, near-wall thermochemistry, and time-accurate material ablation. The model captures key ICP physics such as vortex-mode recirculation, Joule-heating-driven plasma formation, and Lorentz-force-induced flow confinement, and accurately predicts the transition from subsonic to supersonic jet behavior at low pressures. Validation against cold-wall calorimetry and graphite ablation experiments shows that predicted stagnation-point heat fluxes fall well within experimental uncertainty, while fully coupled simulations accurately reproduce measured stagnation temperature histories and recession rates with errors below 12% and 10%, respectively. Remaining discrepancies during early transient heating are attributed to uncertainties in power-coupling efficiency, equilibrium ablation modeling, and material property datasets. Overall, the framework demonstrates strong predictive capability for ICP wind tunnel environments and provides a foundation for improved design, interpretation, and planning of hypersonic material testing campaigns.
Paper Structure (16 sections, 3 equations, 19 figures, 5 tables)

This paper contains 16 sections, 3 equations, 19 figures, 5 tables.

Table of Contents

  1. Introduction
  2. ICP framework
  3. Coupling of the base ICP framework with material response solver
  4. Problem description and simulation setup
  5. Boundary conditions
  6. Plasma
  7. Electromagnetic field
  8. Material
  9. Mesh
  10. Numerical method
  11. Results
  12. General features of the plasma inside the Plasmatron X facility
  13. Comparison against cold wall heat flux measurements
  14. Material response modeling in Plasmatron X environment
  15. Discussion on fully-coupled ablation results
  16. ...and 1 more sections

Figures (19)

  • Figure 1: Flowchart of the multiphysics coupled numerical framework used in this work.
  • Figure 2: Flowchart of the surface coupling between plasma and material solvers.
  • Figure 3: Schematic of the Plasmatron X torch oruganti2023modeling.
  • Figure 4: Schematic of the adopted simplified geometry of the Plasmatron X facility consisting of: torch, nozzle, chamber, and TPS sample.
  • Figure 5: Schematic of the TPS sample geometry (including the holder) with the boundary conditions applied on all surfaces.
  • ...and 14 more figures