Expansion Tube Test Flow Design for Magnetohydrodynamic Aerobraking

To generate the hypervelocity (above 5 km/s) test flow for the experimental study of reentry physics, a shock-expansion tube or tunnel is the only qualified test facility by far. In such a facility, the working gas shall be compressed by an extremely strong shock wave, e.g., Ms=27.7 for the 8 km/s test condition. Therefore, thermo-chemical nonequilibrium phenomena may occur in the gas post the shock wave. Such phenomena, consequently, can incur difficulties in diagnostic and measurement to experimental study, and instability problems to numerical analysis on the other hand. The present paper will focus on the numeric-aid diagnostics of the flow conditions.

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Scramjet test flow reconstruction for a large-scale expansion tube, Part 2: axisymmetric CFD analysis

Shock Waves ◽

10.1007/s00193-017-0786-9 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 28 (4) ◽

pp. 899-918 ◽

Cited By ~ 7

Author(s):

D. E. Gildfind ◽

P. A. Jacobs ◽

R. G. Morgan ◽

W. Y. K. Chan ◽

R. J. Gollan

Keyword(s):

Large Scale ◽

Cfd Analysis ◽

Expansion Tube ◽

Flow Reconstruction ◽

Test Flow ◽

Scale Expansion

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Scramjet test flow reconstruction for a large-scale expansion tube, Part 1: quasi-one-dimensional modelling

Shock Waves ◽

10.1007/s00193-017-0785-x ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 28 (4) ◽

pp. 877-897 ◽

Cited By ~ 6

Author(s):

D. E. Gildfind ◽

P. A. Jacobs ◽

R. G. Morgan ◽

W. Y. K. Chan ◽

R. J. Gollan

Keyword(s):

Large Scale ◽

Expansion Tube ◽

One Dimensional ◽

Flow Reconstruction ◽

Test Flow ◽

Scale Expansion

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The Superorbital Expansion Tube concept, experiment and analysis

The Aeronautical Journal ◽

10.1017/s0001924000050107 ◽

1994 ◽

Vol 98 (973) ◽

pp. 97-105 ◽

Cited By ~ 63

Author(s):

A. J. Neely ◽

R. G. Morgan

Keyword(s):

Flow Model ◽

Small Scale ◽

Expansion Tube ◽

Expansion Process ◽

Test Gas ◽

Total Enthalpy ◽

High Enthalpy ◽

Driver Gas ◽

Test Flow ◽

Set Up

Abstract In response to the need for ground testing facilities for super orbital re-entry research, a small scale facility has been set up at the University of Queensland to demonstrate the Superorbital Expansion Tube concept. This unique device is a free piston driven, triple diaphragm, impulse shock facility which uses the enthalpy multiplication mechanism of the unsteady expansion process and the addition of a secondary shock driver to further heat the driver gas. The pilot facility has been operated to produce quasi-steady test flows in air with shock velocities in excess of 13 km/s and with a usable test flow duration of the order of 15 μs. An experimental condition produced in the facility with total enthalpy of 108 MJ/kg and a total pressure of 335 MPa is reported. A simple analytical flow model which accounts for non-ideal rupture of the light tertiary diaphragm and the resulting entropy increase in the test gas is discussed. It is shown that equilibrium calculations more accurately model the unsteady expansion process than calculations assuming frozen chemistry. This is because the high enthalpy flows produced in the facility can only be achieved if the chemical energy stored in the test flow during shock heating of the test gas is partially returned to the flow during the process of unsteady expansion. Measurements of heat transfer rates to a flat plate demonstrate the usability of the test flow for aerothermodynamic testing and comparison of these rates with empirical calculations confirms the usable accuracy of the flow model.

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Test flow disturbances in an expansion tube

Journal of Fluid Mechanics ◽

10.1017/s0022112092000569 ◽

1992 ◽

Vol 245 (-1) ◽

pp. 493 ◽

Cited By ~ 71

Author(s):

A. Paull ◽

R. J. Stalker

Keyword(s):

Expansion Tube ◽

Flow Disturbances ◽

Test Flow

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