Abstract
To evaluate the performance of thermal protection materials of hypersonic vehicles, it is needed to conduct ground tests in the high enthalpy facilities for simulating the aerothermal environment. A new inductive coupled plasma torch facility is introduced. The facility can operate under atmospheric pressure, and can produce plasma jets of air, nitrogen, carbon dioxide and argon, with the operation power ranging from 27 to 85.5 kW, and the maximum operating efficiency being about 77.9%. The parameters of the plasma flow field at the distance 8 mm away from the subsonic nozzle exit of the width of 30 mm is characterized based on high precision diagnostic of air plasma and emission spectroscopy test. The distribution of electron temperature and spectral emission intensity along the nozzle radial direction are obtained. The torch is found to induce a total enthalpy ranging from 8.54 to 22.2 MJ/kg, and the maximum heat flux at the stagnation point reaches 721 W/cm2. A comparison of our facility with similar facilities at home and abroad and ablation test of carbon fiber reinforced silicon carbide (C/SiC) under two typical test conditions show that the inductive coupled plasma torch facility can reach the international advanced level, and can be used for ground simulation tests for performance improvement of thermal protection materials of hypersonic vehicles.
Translated title of the contribution | Characteristic and application of high enthalpy air plasma flow field under atmospheric pressure |
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Original language | Chinese (Traditional) |
Article number | 122132 |
Journal | Hangkong Xuebao/Acta Aeronautica et Astronautica Sinica |
Volume | 39 |
Issue number | 8 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - 25 Aug 2018 |
Externally published | Yes |