Aerothermal Qualification of High Temperature Materials and Structures in Ground Facilities

Abstract

Ground testing is the key element for the development of thermal protection systems (TPS) and hot structures (HS) of space vehicles. Since one type of ground testing facility does not allow a complete simulation of the flight environment, DLR Windtunnel Department has developed a complementary test approach for the qualification and characterisation of TPS and HS components. This paper describes this approach with recent experimental results on key aerothermal issues like boundary layer transition, gap heating, shear stress effects, active/passive oxidation, surface catalysis, radiative cooling and intensified material recession due to particle presence in high enthalpy flows.