Modeling thin layers in material response solvers

Thermal Protection Systems are a necessary component for atmospheric entry. Most TPS contain thin layers such as ceramic coatings, pore sealers and bonding agents. When modeling TPS, these thin layers are often neglected due to the difference in scale between the TPS (cm) and the thin layer (micrometers). In this study, a volume-averaging flux-conservation method is implemented in the governing equations of a finite volume material response code. The model proposes the addition of a volume and area fraction which utilizes weighted-average between the amount of thin layer and heat shield material in a given cell. A verification case shows that the new model is capable of capturing physics of a thin layer of materials without additional computational costs. The model is also applied to heat conduction and porous flow to show that the volume-averaging flux-conservation model is effective at capturing the physics without adding additional computational cost.