This work presents the latest improvements of the mechanical modeling in the scope of the atmospheric PAMPERO reentry code. First, the enhancements and optimizations of the mechanical module of the third version of the code PAMPERO V3, based on finite element analysis, are presented. The reentry of a satellite computed with both the thermal and mechanical fragmentations in PAMPERO V3 estimates that mechanical fragmentation events do occur around 90 km. This observation challenges the assumption usually made in reentry tools that consider a purely thermal degradation during reentry. Reinforced by these results, CNES and R.Tech start the development of fluid and mechanical models for their integration in the high-fidelity version of the reentry code PAMPERO V3 HiFi. In PAMPERO V3 HiFi, the fluid domain is computed using the CFD module BLIZZARD, which solves Euler equations on an automatically generated grid coupled with an immersed boundary method. Fluid–structure interactions are computed using the loose coupling between BLIZZARD and the FEM solver Code_Aster. A first validation of this tools is presented. The validation is done on two cases: the rebuilding of free-flight wind tunnel tests, where rigid bodies’ motion are observed, and the fluid–structure interactions generated by an oscillating deformable plate exposed to a hypersonic flow. In both cases, the dynamic is accurately assessed regarding the fidelity of the models. Also, having the stress field computed represents a major advantage of the present tool.
