CHARACTERIZATION OF A NITROGEN FLOW WITHIN A PLASMA WIND-TUNNEL

This article presents a comparison of numerical and measured results o f a nitrogen high-enthalpy flow. Experimental data at a first cross se ction are used as initial and boundary conditions for a numerical simu lation of the high-enthalpy flow, the results at a second cross sectio n are compared with the numerical solution, The program system employe d to examine the now consists of a Navier-Stokes flowfield solver incl uding models to investigate thermal and chemical nonequilibrium flows, Different measurement techniques were applied to determine the flowfi eld properties. The measurements made possible the calculation of the local specific enthalpy and mass flux distributions of the plasma plum e by basic thermodynamic equations. These mass nux distributions are c ompared with measurements by mass spectrometry. Special emphasis is al so placed on the investigation of the catalytic activity of different materials.