Ablative-Thermo-Mechanical Multiphysics Analysis for Failure Mechanisms in Charring Composites based on Peridynamics

  • Hu, Yile (Shanghai Jiao Tong University)
  • Yu, Yin (Shanghai Jiao Tong University)
  • Huang, Yizhou (Shanghai Jiao Tong University)

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Charring composites are widely used as ablative thermal protection materials for hypersonic vehicles, serving as critical barriers against severe aerodynamic heating. Analyzing the ablation response of charring composites under multiphysics coupling remains a challenging task. In this study, a nonlocal Peridynamics (PD)-based Ablative-Thermo-Mechanical multiphysics model is developed, leveraging the PD theory’s unique capability in handling damage evolution and moving boundary problems. The in-depth pyrolysis kinetics equations are first employed to determine the density and degree of char during in-depth pyrolysis, and the corresponding thermal and mechanical properties of intermediate states are modified accordingly. The proposed model is then applied to simulate the ablation behavior of TACOT charring composites under various boundary conditions, and the results are validated through comparison with available literature. A 3D ablative-thermo-mechanical coupling analysis is further incorporated, considering the volumetric shrinkage and crack propagation induced by ablation, forming a complete coupled analysis framework. GPU parallel computing is utilized to enhance computational efficiency. The results demonstrate that the PD approach effectively captures the nonlinear thermal response within the material and naturally simulates the interaction between surface recession and crack propagation during ablation. The proposed approach offers a robust and novel methodology for multiphysics analysis of charring composites under extreme thermal conditions.