Surface definition and grid generation about an Assured Crew Return Vehicle (ACRV) for Space Station Freedom
The surface definition and grid generation about an Assured Crew Return Vehicle (ACRV) for the Space Station Freedom are described. The purpose of the surface definition and grid generation is to provide the necessary geometry information for CFD calculations about the vehicle. There are two salient features in this description. The first is that the numerical model representing the ACRV configuration is obtained from the measurement of an existing wind tunnel model. The method for smoothing the measured data and obtaining the numerical model is described. The second feature is the description of the algebraic grid generation method and software to compute volume grids about the ACRV. The methods and software allow rapid computation of volume grids for a wide range of flow conditions.