Finite element analysis of metallic thermal protection systems design

The finite element analysis of the metallic thermal protection systems (TPS) for reusable launch vehicles is completed, and it is found that the existing of lower honeycomb sandwich of superalloy metallic TPS concept will increase the TPS mass, but will not improve the insulation ability. So with the development of metallic TPS, the superalloy honeycomb metallic TPS concept is replaced by the improved metallic TPS concept. How much the different gap widths and emittances influence the maximum structure temperature is analyzed and compared, and it is found that the best solution for effectively limiting gap radiation is to design TPS concepts to eliminate the panel-to-panel gap. The effects of several modeling issues on TPS sizing are analyzed, and a change in initial temperature from 40°C to 0°C produces the decreases of 7.7% in TPS mass and 17% in thickness. Considering structure heat loss results in the decrease of 7% in TPS mass and 26% in thickness.