Results for “high-enthalpy test” — Page 2

NASA NTRS1991

Twenty-five years of aerodynamic research with IR imaging: A survey

Infrared imaging used in aerodynamic research evolved during the last 25 years into a rewarding experimental technique for investigation of body-flow viscous interactions, such as heat flux determination and boundary layer transition. The technique of infrared imaging matched well its capability to produce useful results, with the expansion of testing conditions in the entire spectrum of wind tunnels, from hypersonic high-enthalpy facilities to cryogenic transonic wind tunnels. With unique achievements credited to its past, the current trend suggests a change in attitude towards this technique: from the perception as an exotic, project-oriented tool, to the status of a routine experimental procedure.

Gartenberg, Ehud↗

NASA NTRS2026

Thermochemically-Closed Sonic-Flow Inversion for Enthalpy and Temperature in Multispecies Arc-Jet Flows

A thermochemically-closed sonic-flow inversion framework (TSIF) is developed to infer bulk enthalpy and total temperature upstream of a choked nozzle in arc-jet flows. The formulation recasts a pressure-rise total enthalpy quantification technique as an inverse problem in characteristic-velocity c * space using measured mass flow rate, upstream total pressure, gas composition, and nozzle throat geometry as inputs. Unlike calorimetric energy-balance approaches or optical diagnostics, the method relies primarily on routinely measured facility quantities combined with explicit thermochemical closure. Thermochemical states are obtained using NASA’s open-source Chemical Equilibrium with Applications (CEA) code, enabling construction of a chemistry-consistent relation between characteristic velocity, total enthalpy, and total temperature under equilibrium or frozen assumptions. A discharge coefficient is self-calibrated using cold-flow (arc-off) operation data and applied to hot-flow (arc-on) measurements, enabling upstream losses to be accounted for without empirical correlations. The framework is applied to air, N 2 , and CO 2 –N 2 arc-jet flows and demonstrates expected trends for the inferred thermochemical states as function of arc power, specific energy input, mass-flow, heater configuration, and test gas. In the air limit, under equilibrium assumptions, the method recovers the classical high-enthalpy asymptotic correlation of Winovich with a mean residual of 4.4%, demonstrating compatibility with established sonic-flow scaling, while extending applicability to arbitrary multi-species mixtures and non-equilibrium chemistry. The framework provides a mixture-flexible methodology for determining bulk thermochemical states in modern arc-jet environments using routine facility pressure, mass-flow, gas-composition, and nozzle-geometry information together with a cold-flow calibration.

stagnation heat flux↗

NASA NTRS1990

Transpiration cooling in the locality of a transverse fuel jet for supersonic combustors

The objective of the current work was to determine the feasibility of transpiration cooling for the relief of the local heating rates in the region of a sonic, perpendicular, fuel jet of gaseous hydrogen. Experiments were conducted to determine the interaction between the cooling required and flameholding limits of a transverse jet in a high-enthalpy, Mach 3 flow in both open-jet and direct-connect test mode. Pulsed shadowgraphs were used to illustrate the flow field. Infrared thermal images indicated the surface temperatures, and the OH(-) emission of the flame was used to visualize the limits of combustion. Wall, static presures indicated the location of the combustion within the duct and were used to calculate the combustion efficiency. The results from both series of tests at facility total temperatures of 1700 K and 2000 K are presented.

Northam, G. Burton↗

NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Extending mARC II Arc-Jet Test Duration via Design and Implementation of Model System Cooling Sleeve

The mARC II is a 30 kW arc-jet facility at NASA Ames Research Center used to generate high-enthalpy flows for low-cost thermal protection system (TPS) technology development. Sustained operation of downstream instrumentation and material samples is constrained by thermal loading transmitted through the arc-jet test environment, limiting achievable run times and experimental throughput. This work presents the design, integration, and validation of a cooling sleeve implemented on the sweep arm drive motor feedthrough to mitigate thermal accumulation during testing. The addition of the cooling sleeve is a simple, robust upgrade that translates directly into enhanced facility capability by supporting longer run durations, reduced turnaround time, and higher throughput.

sting arm↗

NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Extending mARC II Arc-Jet Test Duration via Design and Implementation of Model System Cooling Sleeve

The mARC II is a 30 kW arc-jet facility at NASA Ames Research Center used to generate high-enthalpy flows for low-cost thermal protection system (TPS) technology development. Sustained operation of downstream instrumentation and material samples is constrained by thermal loading transmitted through the arc-jet test environment, limiting achievable run times and experimental throughput. This work presents the design, integration, and validation of a cooling sleeve implemented on the sweep arm drive motor feedthrough to mitigate thermal accumulation during testing. The addition of the cooling sleeve is a simple, robust upgrade that translates directly into enhanced facility capability by supporting longer run durations, reduced turnaround time, and higher throughput.

numerical simulations↗

NASA NTRS2026

Thermochemically-Closed Sonic-Flow Inversion for Enthalpy and Temperature in Multispecies Arc-Jet Flows

A thermochemically-closed sonic-flow inversion framework (TSIF) is developed to infer bulk enthalpy and total temperature upstream of a choked nozzle in arc-jet flows. The formulation recasts a pressure-rise total enthalpy quantification technique as an inverse problem in characteristic-velocity c * space using measured mass flow rate, upstream total pressure, gas composition, and nozzle throat geometry as inputs. Unlike calorimetric energy-balance approaches or optical diagnostics, the method relies primarily on routinely measured facility quantities combined with explicit thermochemical closure. Thermochemical states are obtained using NASA’s open-source Chemical Equilibrium with Applications (CEA) code, enabling construction of a chemistry-consistent relation between characteristic velocity, total enthalpy, and total temperature under equilibrium or frozen assumptions. A discharge coefficient is self-calibrated using cold-flow (arc-off) operation data and applied to hot-flow (arc-on) measurements, enabling upstream losses to be accounted for without empirical correlations. The framework is applied to air, N 2 , and CO 2 –N 2 arc-jet flows and demonstrates expected trends for the inferred thermochemical states as function of arc power, specific energy input, mass-flow, heater configuration, and test gas. In the air limit, under equilibrium assumptions, the method recovers the classical high-enthalpy asymptotic correlation of Winovich with a mean residual of 4.4%, demonstrating compatibility with established sonic-flow scaling, while extending applicability to arbitrary multi-species mixtures and non-equilibrium chemistry. The framework provides a mixture-flexible methodology for determining bulk thermochemical states in modern arc-jet environments using routine facility pressure, mass-flow, gas-composition, and nozzle-geometry information together with a cold-flow calibration.

inviscid theory↗

NASA NTRS1995

Hypervelocity Aeroheating Measurements in Wake of Mars Mission Entry Vehicle

Detailed measurements of aerodynamic heating rates in the wake of a Mars-Pathfinder configuration model have been made. Heating data were obtained in a conventional wind tunnel, the NASA LaRC 31" Mach 10 Air Tunnel, and in a high-enthalpy impulse facility, the NASA HYPULSE expansion tube, in which air and CO2 were employed as test gases. The enthalpy levels were 0.7 MJ/kg in the Mach 10 Tunnel, 12 MJ/kg at Mach 9.8 for HYPULSE CO2 tests and 14 MJ/kg at Mach 7.9 for HYPULSE air tests. Wake heating rates were also measured on three similar parametric configurations, and forebody heating measurements were made in order to facilitate CFD comparisons. The ratio of peak wake heating to forebody stagnation point heating in the Mach 10 Tunnel varied from 7% to 15% depending on the freestream Reynolds number. In HYPULSE, the ratio was ~5% for both air and CO 2. It was observed that an increase in the ratio of forebody corner radius to nose radius resulted in a decrease in peak wake heating, and moved the peak closer to the base of the forebody. The wake flow establishment process in HYPULSE was studied, and a method was developed to determine when the wake has become fully established.

Hollis, Brian R.↗

NASA NTRS1996

Comparison of Experimental and Computational Aerothermodynamics of a 70-deg Sphere-Cone

Numerical solutions for hypersonic flows of carbon-dioxide and air around a 70-deg sphere-cone have been computed using an axisymmetric non-equilibrium Navier-Stokes solver. Freestream flow conditions for these computations were equivalent to those obtained in an experimental blunt-body heat-transfer study conducted in a high-enthalpy, hypervelocity expansion tube. Comparisons have been made between the computed and measured surface heat-transfer rates on the forebody and afterbody of the sphere-cone and on the sting which supported the test model. Computed forebody heating rates were within the estimated experimental uncertainties of 10% on the forebody and 15% in the wake except for within the recirculating flow region of the wake.

Hollis, Brian R.↗

NASA NTRS1992

Taking the measure of aerodynamic testing

A review is presented of the major challenges for aerodynamic measurement created by advanced aircraft systems that range from turbulence modeling to scramjet engines. Three diverse examples typically challenge current capabilities: modeling of compressible turbulence, validation of complex 3D flow predictions, and thermochemical characterization of chemically active high-enthalpy flows. Various techniques being explored and under development to realize the aerodynamic measurements required are discussed.

Erbland, Peter J.↗

NASA NTRS1997

Transition and Turbulence Modeling for Blunt-Body Wake Flows

Aerobraking has been proposed as an efficient means of decelerating spacecraft for planetary missions. Most current aerobrake designs feature a blunt forebody shielding the payload from the intense heat generated during atmospheric entry. Although this forebody will absorb the largest portion of the heat pulse, accurate prediction of heating in the near wake is of great importance, since large local heating values can occur at points of shear-layer impingement. In order to address the various issues associated with these blunt-body wake flowfields, the Advisory Group for Aerospace Research and Development (AGARD) formed Working Group 18 in 1992. One of the objectives of this activity was to examine real-gas effects in high-speed flow fields around a 70 deg. blunted cone. To date, many researchers have conducted experiments using this geometry in various facilities, such as the Large Energy National Shock (LENS) tunnel at Cubric/Calspan and the HEG shock tunnel at DLR-Goettingen. Several computational studies have also been conducted in concert with these tests. Many of the experimental results have indicated the possible presence of a transitional shear layer through a large increase in heat transfer downstream of the reattachment point. The presence of transition could in fact lead to much higher peak heating than if the separated flow is entirely laminar or turbulent. In the shock-tunnel tests, however, it is difficult to separate such viscous-flow phenomena from real-gas effects. In order to help make this distinction, Horvath et al. recently conducted a set of experiments in the NASA Langley 20-Inch Mach 6 Tunnel, and compared the results to laminar Navier-Stokes calculations. They found heat-transfer distributions similar to those obtained in the high-enthalpy facilities, with the measured peak heating along the sting support markedly greater than that predicted by the laminar computations. These trends point to the need to find transitional and turbulent computational solutions for these flowfields.

Nance, Robert P.↗

NASA NTRS1993

Aerothermodynamic heating due to shock wave/laminar boundary-layer interactions in high-enthalpy hypersonic flow

The interaction between a swept shock wave and a laminar boundary layer was investigated experimentally in high-enthalpy hypersonic flow. The effect of high-temperature, real gas physics on the interaction was examined by conducting tests in air and helium. Heat transfer measurements were made on the surface of a flat plate and a shock-generating fin using thin-film resistance sensors for fin incidence angles of 0, 5, and 10 deg at Mach numbers of 6.9 in air and 7.2 in helium. The experiments were conducted in the NASA HYPULSE expansion tube, an impulse-type facility capable of generating high-enthalpy, high-velocity flow with freestream levels of dissociated species that are particularly low. The measurements indicate that the swept shock wave creates high local heat transfer levels in the interaction region, with the highest heating found in the strongest interaction. The maximum measured heating rates in the interaction are order of magnitude greater than laminar flat plate boundary layer heating levels at the same location.

Hackett, Charles M.↗

NASA NTRS1992

Issues and approach to develop validated analysis tools for hypersonic flows: One perspective

Critical issues concerning the modeling of low-density hypervelocity flows where thermochemical nonequilibrium effects are pronounced are discussed. Emphasis is on the development of validated analysis tools. A description of the activity in the Ames Research Center's Aerothermodynamics Branch is also given. Inherent in the process is a strong synergism between ground test and real-gas computational fluid dynamics (CFD). Approaches to develop and/or enhance phenomenological models and incorporate them into computational flow-field simulation codes are discussed. These models have been partially validated with experimental data for flows where the gas temperature is raised (compressive flows). Expanding flows, where temperatures drop, however, exhibit somewhat different behavior. Experimental data for these expanding flow conditions are sparse; reliance must be made on intuition and guidance from computational chemistry to model transport processes under these conditions. Ground-based experimental studies used to provide necessary data for model development and validation are described. Included are the performance characteristics of high-enthalpy flow facilities, such as shock tubes and ballistic ranges.

Deiwert, George S.↗

NASA NTRS1962

A Preliminary Theoretical Study of the Expansion Tube, a New Device for Producing High-Enthalpy Short-Duration Hypersonic Gas Flows

A preliminary theoretical study was conducted of a new technique for producing high-enthalpy gas flows. The device considered utilizes an unsteady expansion process for the purpose of total-enthalpy multiplication. Analyses were conducted for both perfect and real air in equilibrium, assuming idealized diaphragm bursts, centered expansion waves, and continuum flow. Results of the study showed the expansion tube capable of outperforming the conventional shock tunnel by a factor of approximately 2 in velocity for the same test-section ambient density and pressure. The degree of dissociation is low at all phases of the thermodynamic cycle in the expansion tube; thus the test-section air has a good possibility of being in equilibrium. Maximum pressures involved in the cycle for duplicating a typical reentry from, a lunar mission are low enough for existing pressure-vessel techniques. Both the known and anticipated advantages and disadvantages of this new concept are also discussed.

TUBING↗

NASA NTRS1991

Mach 4 and Mach 8 axisymmetric nozzles for a high-enthalpy shock tunnel

The performance of two axisymmetric nozzles which were designed to produce uniform, parallel flow with nominal Mach numbers of 4 and 8 is examined. A free-piston-driven shock tube was used to supply the nozzle with high-temperature, high-pressure test gas. The inviscid design procedure treated the nozzle expansion in two stages. Close to the nozzle throat, the nozzle wall was specified as conical and the gas flow was treated as a quasi-one-dimensional chemically-reacting flow. At the end of the conical expansion, the gas was assumed to be calorically perfect, and a contoured wall was designed (using method of characteristics) to convert the source flow into a uniform and parallel flow at the end of the nozzle. Performance was assessed by measuring Pitot pressures across the exit plane of the nozzles and, over the range of operating conditions examined, the nozzles produced satisfactory test flows. However, there were flow disturbances in the Mach 8 nozzle flow that persisted for significant times after flow initiation.

Jacobs, P. A.↗

NASA NTRS1992

High heat flux measurements and experimental calibrations/characterizations

Recent progress in techniques employed in the measurement of very high heat-transfer rates in reentry-type facilities at the Arnold Engineering Development Center (AEDC) is described. These advances include thermal analyses applied to transducer concepts used to make these measurements; improved heat-flux sensor fabrication methods, equipment, and procedures for determining the experimental time response of individual sensors; performance of absolute heat-flux calibrations at levels above 2,000 Btu/cu ft-sec (2.27 kW/cu cm); and innovative methods of performing in-situ run-to-run characterizations of heat-flux probes installed in the test facility. Graphical illustrations of the results of extensive thermal analyses of the null-point calorimeter and coaxial surface thermocouple concepts with application to measurements in aerothermal test environments are presented. Results of time response experiments and absolute calibrations of null-point calorimeters and coaxial thermocouples performed in the laboratory at intermediate to high heat-flux levels are shown. Typical AEDC high-enthalpy arc heater heat-flux data recently obtained with a Calspan-fabricated null-point probe model are included.

Kidd, Carl T.↗

NASA NTRS2012

Spatially Resolved Temperature and Water Vapor Concentration Distributions in Supersonic Combustion Facilities by TDLAT

Detailed knowledge of the internal structure of high-enthalpy flows can provide valuable insight to the performance of scramjet combustors. Tunable Diode Laser Absorption Spectroscopy (TDLAS) is often employed to measure temperature and species concentration. However, TDLAS is a path-integrated line-of-sight (LOS) measurement, and thus does not produce spatially resolved distributions. Tunable Diode Laser Absorption Tomography (TDLAT) is a non-intrusive measurement technique for determining two-dimensional spatially resolved distributions of temperature and species concentration in high enthalpy flows. TDLAT combines TDLAS with tomographic image reconstruction. More than 2500 separate line-of-sight TDLAS measurements are analyzed in order to produce highly resolved temperature and species concentration distributions. Measurements have been collected at the University of Virginia's Supersonic Combustion Facility (UVaSCF) as well as at the NASA Langley Direct-Connect Supersonic Combustion Test Facility (DCSCTF). Due to the UVaSCF s unique electrical heating and ability for vitiate addition, measurements collected at the UVaSCF are presented as a calibration of the technique. Measurements collected at the DCSCTF required significant modifications to system hardware and software designs due to its larger measurement area and shorter test duration. Tomographic temperature and water vapor concentration distributions are presented from experimentation on the UVaSCF operating at a high temperature non-reacting case for water vitiation level of 12%. Initial LOS measurements from the NASA Langley DCSCTF operating at an equivalence ratio of 0.5 are also presented. Results show the capability of TDLAT to adapt to several experimental setups and test parameters.

Busa, K. M.↗

NASA NTRS2013

Measurements on NASA Langley Durable Combustor Rig by TDLAT: Preliminary Results

Detailed knowledge of the internal structure of high-enthalpy flows can provide valuable insight to the performance of scramjet combustors. Tunable Diode Laser Absorption Spectroscopy (TDLAS) is often employed to measure temperature and species concentration. However, TDLAS is a path-integrated line-of-sight (LOS) measurement, and thus does not produce spatially resolved distributions. Tunable Diode Laser Absorption Tomography (TDLAT) is a non-intrusive measurement technique for determining two-dimensional spatially resolved distributions of temperature and species concentration in high enthalpy flows. TDLAT combines TDLAS with tomographic image reconstruction. Several separate line-of-sight TDLAS measurements are analyzed in order to produce highly resolved temperature and species concentration distributions. Measurements have been collected at the University of Virginia's Supersonic Combustion Facility (UVaSCF) as well as at the NASA Langley Direct-Connect Supersonic Combustion Test Facility (DCSCTF). Measurements collected at the DCSCTF required significant modifications to system hardware and software designs due to its larger measurement area and shorter test duration. Initial LOS measurements from the NASA Langley DCSCTF operating at an equivalence ratio of 0.5 are presented. Results show the capability of TDLAT to adapt to several experimental setups and test parameters.

Busa, Kristin↗

NASA NTRS1962

A Preliminary Theoretical Study of the Expansion Tube, a New Device for Producing High-Enthalpy Short-Duration Hypersonic Gas Flows

The device considered utilizes an unsteady expansion process for the purpose of total-enthalpy multiplication. Analyses were conducted for both perfect and real air in equilibrium, assuming idealized diaphragm bursts, centered expansion waves, and continuum flow. Results of the study showed the expansion tube capable of outperforming the conventional shock tunnel by a factor of approximately 2 in velocity for the same test-section ambient density and pressure. The degree of dissociation is low at all phases of the thermodynamic cycle in the expansion tube; thus the test-section air has a good possibility of being in equilibrium. Maximum pressures involved in the cycle for duplicating a typical reentry from a lunar mission are low enough for existing pressure-vessel techniques. Both the known and anticipated advantages and disadvantages of this new concept are also discussed.

Trimpi, Robert L.↗