Measurement Techniques to Study Flow Phenomena on SHEFEX 1

Abstract

The SHarp Edge Flight Experiment I was a low cost hypersonic flight experiment of the German Aerospace Center (DLR) to demonstrate the feasibility of facetted TPS and good aerodynamic behavior of sharp edge space vehicle configurations. The flight experiment was a suborbital flight mission flown on the 27th of October 2005 from the Norwegian rocket range on the island of Andoya the northernmost island of the Vesteralen archipelago. SHEFEX I was equipped with a variety of measurement techniques to investigate the aerothermal flow effects and response of the TPS and structure during flight. Also the thermal protection system materials developed by the DLR, which improvement have continuously expanded the capabilities and operating envelopes of hypersonic vehicles was been flight qualified. An additional goal of the experiment was to verify the potential of multidisciplinary design tools of the DLR. This paper will present the measurement techniques used and discuss the major flow phenomena such as transition and reattachment as observed during the reentry phase of SHEFEX 1 and compare them to numerical simulations.