Non-intrusive Space Shuttle Main Engine nozzle exit diagnostics

Abstract

The results of a conceptual design study on the feasibility of nonintrusive optical diagnostics have shown that UV laser-excited Raman scattering can furnish reliable and accurate temperature and multiple-species data for the Space Shuttle Main Engine's exhaust flow. Enhanced OH flow tagging by UV photodissociation of H2O was used in velocity measurements; a time-delayed pulsed dye laser beam at 308 nm excites fluorescence from OH, and the location of the convected enhanced OH zone is measured with an optical multichannel detector.