Integration and Operation of the Transpiration Cooling Experiment in the Forebody of the Hypersonic Vehicle ATHEAt

Kurzfassung

Transpiration cooling is a promising thermal management technique that could be applied in hypersonic regimes to protect critical external structural components subjected to the highest aerothermal pressure and heat loads. In the framework of the ATHEAt project, a transpiration cooling experiment has been designed and integrated in the thermal protection structure of the payload forebody. The porous material probe was made of the so-called OCTRA 3D material, a porous variant of the classical C/C-SiC material with pores in the direction orthogonal to the carbon fibres. The experiment operated correctly during the ATHEAt sounding rocket hypersonic flight and the collected data validated the efficiency of such technology.