About HRL
The Hypersonic and Rarefied flow Laboratory (HRL) focuses on elucidating and predicting hypersonic and high-enthalpy flow phenomena that occur during atmospheric re-entry. To accurately reproduce extreme environments such as space re-entry and plasma wind tunnels, the laboratory develops high-fidelity numerical simulation techniques and high-enthalpy thermophysical models. In addition, by integrating computational fluid dynamics with emerging artificial intelligence technologies, we conduct research on AI-based, data-driven flow modeling as well as performance prediction and optimal design methodologies for missiles.
Supporting these efforts is an in-house high-performance computing cluster capable of analyzing configurations ranging from simple geometries to full vehicle models, which is utilized for applied studies including aerothermodynamic characterization of hypersonic vehicles, supersonic multi-body flow analysis, and thermal protection system performance evaluation.
Ultimately, leveraging this technical foundation, we aim to achieve multi-objective optimization that considers aerodynamic performance, thermal loads, and structural integrity, thereby advancing the thermophysical understanding of hypersonic flows and establishing a robust and efficient design basis for hypersonic vehicles.