152
6 Hypersonic Wind Tunnels
Fig. 6.21 Performance of the SCIROCCO plasma wind tunnel (© CIRA)
(a) Model in the plasma jet
(b) Infrared image
Fig. 6.22 Test on part of the ESA EXPERT vehicle in the SCIROCCO plasma wind tunnel
(© CIRA)
The GHIBLI is another hypersonic, high enthalpy, low pressure arc-jet facility
operated by CIRA for experiments on models of about 80 mm in diameter. It is
mainly used for the characterisation and selection of shielding materials and also for
CFD validations, for example on the stagnation point heat flux, hypersonic flow in
intakes and nozzles, viscous interactions problems and shock–shock interactions. It
is also useful for the characterisation of highly complex experimental measurement
techniques required to capture aero-thermodynamic phenomena and derive empirical
or semi-empirical correlations. The exploration of new measurement techniques is
usually for heat flux or other flow parameters such as density, specific heat ratio,
Mach number where non-intrusive methods are essential. The hot flow is generated
by a 2 MW arc heater where the plasma flow is still at subsonic state and is later
accelerated to hypersonic through a converging-diverging nozzle.
The nozzle exit section is 0.15 m in diameter and the plasma flow is accelerated
to about Mach 10, depending on the boundary layer thickness.
The GHIBLI test chamber is a cylindrical compartment of 1.8 m inner diameter
and 2 m length, where the plasma jet is fired normal to the longitudinal axis of the
6 Hypersonic Wind Tunnels
Fig. 6.21 Performance of the SCIROCCO plasma wind tunnel (© CIRA)
(a) Model in the plasma jet
(b) Infrared image
Fig. 6.22 Test on part of the ESA EXPERT vehicle in the SCIROCCO plasma wind tunnel
(© CIRA)
The GHIBLI is another hypersonic, high enthalpy, low pressure arc-jet facility
operated by CIRA for experiments on models of about 80 mm in diameter. It is
mainly used for the characterisation and selection of shielding materials and also for
CFD validations, for example on the stagnation point heat flux, hypersonic flow in
intakes and nozzles, viscous interactions problems and shock–shock interactions. It
is also useful for the characterisation of highly complex experimental measurement
techniques required to capture aero-thermodynamic phenomena and derive empirical
or semi-empirical correlations. The exploration of new measurement techniques is
usually for heat flux or other flow parameters such as density, specific heat ratio,
Mach number where non-intrusive methods are essential. The hot flow is generated
by a 2 MW arc heater where the plasma flow is still at subsonic state and is later
accelerated to hypersonic through a converging-diverging nozzle.
The nozzle exit section is 0.15 m in diameter and the plasma flow is accelerated
to about Mach 10, depending on the boundary layer thickness.
The GHIBLI test chamber is a cylindrical compartment of 1.8 m inner diameter
and 2 m length, where the plasma jet is fired normal to the longitudinal axis of the