How does Orbiter infer reentry heat values?

[Moach]

yep...

i'd like to know if there's a simple formula that yields how hard a vessel should be burning during reentry :shifty:

i reckon it has something to do with indicated airspeed and pressure density (is this even remotely correct)? but i can't seem to figure out the exact combination of parameters that equate to the reentry flames effect...

i could think of my own formula... but it would look strange if the temperature gauges appeared to disagree with the stock effects


so that's why i ask... i wanna make my G42 burn up as realistically as possible :thumbup: - since failure is a key part of the simulation :lol:

 

[francisdrake]

You may want to download the Orbiter SDK, with an abundance of background information in the documentation. The API guide.pdf, page 12, chapter 1.7 "Rendering reentry flames" says the heat flux P is calculated as:

P = 1/2 rho v³ with rho being the local atmospheric density and v being the vessel speed.

 

[Moach]

ha, how did i manage to miss that?

thanks! that's exactly what i was looking for :thumbup: