MEASUREMENT TECHNIQUES IN HIGH-ENTHALPY HYPERSONIC FACILITIES

Interest in hypersonic aerodynamic braking and aerospace planes has le d to the development of new high-enthalpy hypersonic test facilities. This paper describes available techniques and future developments for making measurements in these facilities. Emphasis is on instrumentatio n for use with short-duration flows in free-piston shock tunnels. Issu es of free-stream calibration, surface measurements on models, flow vi sualization, laser diagnostics, and accuracy are addressed, with refer ences made to representative experimental studies. The paper concludes with a summary of future research needs.