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Abstract:
The von Karman Institute (VKI) recently completed the commissioning of a new inductively-coupled plasma wind tunnel ("Plasmatron") devoted to the simulation of thermal re-entry conditions as applicable to TPS materials used on real flight trajectories. In the context of the commissioning, two main intrusive measurement techniques, the Pitot tube and the calorimetric heat flux probe, were developed and extensively used to record the performance in order to compare them with the specifications. During the commissioning phase, other techniques were being developed in another VKI facility, the Minitorch, a small inductively-coupled plasma torch used as the instrumental test bench for the Plasmatron. This paper presents the Plasmatron facility to the reader, then describes in detail the probes that were used, the test methodology that was followed, and the results that were obtained during the commissioning phase. The technique of laser Doppler velocimetry (LDV), which is currently developed in the Minitorch and envisaged as one of the standard Plasmatron techniques in the near future, is also described in detail.
| Limitations: |
 APPROVED FOR PUBLIC RELEASE |
| Pages: |
26 |
| Report Date: |
APR 2000 |
| Report Number: |
P547010 |
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