<p> The present study deals with solving two-dimensional Reynolds Averaged Navier-Stokes equations for the Fire II re-entry capsule using Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD). The primary goal is to model the aero thermodynamic flow characteristics around the capsule and estimate the surface heat flux distribution. Mach number value of 15.16 is chosen as a free stream condition corresponding to an altitude of 50 km. Taking advantage of the symmetry, only a quarter portion of the geometry is considered to generate the volume mesh for the simulation. The numerical models and convergence techniques that are implemented by the CFD solver are thoroughly described. </p><p> Special attention has been paid to validate the code. The value of shock stand-off distance obtained by means of benchmark empirical formulation is compared to the CFD analysis. An additional comparison between the simulated results and the approximated engineering correlations of convective stagnation point heat fluxes is made to ensure the validity of the obtained results. Overall, a satisfactory agreement is observed between the estimated values by engineering correlations and those predicted by the numerical solver. </p><p>

<p> Road vehicle aerodynamics are primarily focused on developing and modeling performance at steady-state conditions, although this does not fully encompass the entire operating envelope. Considerable vehicle acceleration and deceleration occurs during operation, either because of driver input or from transient weather phenomenon such as wind gusting. With this considered, high performance road vehicles experience body acceleration rates well beyond &plusmn;1G to navigate courses during efficient transition in and out of corners, accelerating from maximum straight-line speed to manageable cornering speeds, and then back to maximum straight-line speed. This dissertation aims to answer if longitudinal acceleration is important for road vehicle aerodynamics with the use of transient Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) to develop a method for obtaining ensemble averages of forces and flow field variables. This method was developed on a simplified bluff body, a channel mounted square cylinder, achieving acceleration through periodic forcing of far field velocity conditions. Then, the method was applied to an open-source road vehicle geometry, the DrivAer model, and a high performance model which was created for this dissertation, the DrivAer-GrandTouringRacing (GTR) variant, as a test model that generates considerable downforce with low ground proximity. Each test body experienced drag force variations greater than &plusmn;10% at the tested velocities and acceleration rates with considerable variations to flow field distributions. Finally, an empirical formulation was used to obtain non-dimensional coefficients for each body from their simulated force data, allowing for force comparison between geometries and modeling of aerodynamic force response to accelerating vehicle conditions.</p><p>