Hypersonic plasma tunnel for reentry simulating

Abstract

An arc-heated experimental setup for producing hypersonic plasma jet developed in ITA is presented. Setup permits gas-dynamic control of enthalpy of plasma jet in addition to common control of the regimes of plasma heater. This allows variation of the main parameters including enthalpy of plasma jet within wider range than during changing only the regime of plasma heater. In addition, this allows to adjust the necessary parameters of vacuum system to the regimes of operation of the plasma heater. Method is based on the controlled outflow upstream the nozzle of the part of vortex flow from the colder boundary layer at the walls of arc stabilizing channel into atmosphere with minimal heating. The facility and measurement techniques are described. The facility during testing is capable of producing Mach numbers up to 5, enthalpy from 1 to 13 MJ/kg, heat fluxes up to 3 MWm-2 and stagnation pressures in the range of 0.01 to 1 atm. By considering the levels of heat fluxes, enthalpy and stagnation pressure, the setup is able of simulating conditions of re-entry of the Brazilian satellite SARA (satellite of atmospheric re-entry) for the most crucial part of reentry trajectory, approximately from 42 to 34 km of altitude.

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