Chinese scientists question ‘flaw’ in Nasa’s hypersonic aerodynamics software
- Due to potential use in development of hypersonic weapons, Vulcan-CFD software is subject to export controls with distributions limited to within US
- Paper published in Chinese journal says error causes inability to precisely forecast chemical composition and temperature changes on aircraft surface
This small deficiency amid tangled equations could lead to “inevitably erroneous outcomes” when scientists simulate and analyse important issues, such as high-temperature ablation, said the team led by Professor Liu Jun, a researcher at the Hypersonic Technology Laboratory of the National University of Defence Technology, in a peer-reviewed paper published in the Chinese academic journal Acta Aerodynamica Sinica on March 14.
When an aircraft’s speed exceeds Mach 5, intense friction with the air generates sizzling temperatures that can ionise air molecules and spark chemical reactions.
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These intricate reactions can erode the surface of the aircraft and alter the temperature or density of the surrounding air. Inaccuracies in the modelling data could have profound implications for the performance and safety of the aircraft.
The software mentioned in Liu’s paper, called Vulcan-CFD, was developed by Nasa’s Langley Research Centre. Due to its potential use in the development of hypersonic weapons, it is subject to export controls with distributions limited to within American borders.
Chinese researchers gleaned their information from an academic paper published in 2020 in which the Nasa software development team introduced the working principles of Vulcan and some key equations it used.
The software was “well known” to the industry, Liu and his collaborators said.
Liu, whose laboratory is in Changsha, Hunan province, was joined in the research by scientists from the People’s Liberation Army University of Aerospace Engineering in Beijing and the Aerodynamics Research and Development Centre in Mianyang, Sichuan province. The three institutions have contributed to the rapid development of Chinese hypersonic weapon technology over the past two decades.
