GH2/GO2 Supply Facility for Hot Plume Testing in the Vertical Test Section Cologne (VMK)

Abstract

The paper belongs to a series of investigations of hot plume interaction phenomena in the field of space transportation. Scientific motivation of these investigations is the understanding of the physical mechanisms in base flows that are for example present at rocket launchers. The paper shortly summarizes the technical challenges that are resulting from base flow interaction phenomena and develops a motivation for an enhancement of the experimental testing capabilities in that field. In the second part, an effort of the German Aerospace Center (DLR) to achieve that goal by expanding the vertical wind tunnel facility in Cologne by a gaseous hydrogen oxygen supply unit to enable hot plume interaction testing with GH2/GO2 combustion is presented. The design of the facility is summarized and an outlook on the gain for future investigations in that field is given in the conclusions.