Heat Flux Measurement on Spinning Test Models in Hypersonics

Abstract

Usually heat flux measurements in ground test facilities as well as simulations in the hypersonic flow regime are performed at static conditions with non-moving objects. But objects performing an uncontrolled re-entry are quite likely to rotate and/or tumble. This is true for meteorites, satellites and empty stages of launch vehicles. Previous experiments were conducted with free flying objects in the hypersonic test section H2K of the Department of Supersonic and Hypersonic Technologies at the German Aerospace Centre DLR in Cologne, which focused on the forces acting on rotating and tumbling objects. However, these experiments were not suited to perform heat flux measurements. Therefore, a new set-up with forced spinning objects have been tested. This activity is complementary to demise experiments with spinning objects in the arc heated facility L2K at DLR in Cologne. We present the concept of the experiments, the challenges and first experimental results of spinning cylinders.