Hostname: page-component-745bb68f8f-d8cs5 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2025-01-12T23:11:26.478Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The Superorbital Expansion Tube concept, experiment and analysis

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  04 July 2016

A. J. Neely  and
R. G. Morgan
A. J. Neely
Affiliation:
Department of Mechanical Engineering, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia
R. G. Morgan
Affiliation:
Department of Mechanical Engineering, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

In response to the need for ground testing facilities for super orbital re-entry research, a small scale facility has been set up at the University of Queensland to demonstrate the Superorbital Expansion Tube concept. This unique device is a free piston driven, triple diaphragm, impulse shock facility which uses the enthalpy multiplication mechanism of the unsteady expansion process and the addition of a secondary shock driver to further heat the driver gas. The pilot facility has been operated to produce quasi-steady test flows in air with shock velocities in excess of 13 km/s and with a usable test flow duration of the order of 15 μs. An experimental condition produced in the facility with total enthalpy of 108 MJ/kg and a total pressure of 335 MPa is reported. A simple analytical flow model which accounts for non-ideal rupture of the light tertiary diaphragm and the resulting entropy increase in the test gas is discussed. It is shown that equilibrium calculations more accurately model the unsteady expansion process than calculations assuming frozen chemistry. This is because the high enthalpy flows produced in the facility can only be achieved if the chemical energy stored in the test flow during shock heating of the test gas is partially returned to the flow during the process of unsteady expansion. Measurements of heat transfer rates to a flat plate demonstrate the usability of the test flow for aerothermodynamic testing and comparison of these rates with empirical calculations confirms the usable accuracy of the flow model.

Type
Research Article
Information
The Aeronautical Journal , Volume 98 , Issue 973 , April 1994 , pp. 97 - 105
Copyright
Copyright © Royal Aeronautical Society 1994 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

1. Lyne, J.E., Tauber, M.E. and Braun, R.D. Parametric study of manned aerocapture Part I: Earth return from Mars, J Spacecr Rockets, November-December 1992, 29, (6), pp 808–813.Google Scholar
2. Neely, A.J., Stalker, R.J. and Paull, A. High enthalpy, hyper-velocity flows of air and argon in an expansion tube, Aeronaut J, June/July 1991, 95, (946), pp 175–186.Google Scholar
3. Sharma, S.P. and Park, C. Operating characteristics of a 60- and 10cm electric arc-driven shock tube — Part II: The driven section, J Thermophysics, July 1990, 4, (3), pp 266–272.Google Scholar
4. Neely, A.J. and Morgan, R.G. Flow measurements and calibration of a superorbital expansion tube , 1lth Australasian Fluid Mechanics Conference, Hobart, December 1992.Google Scholar
5. Morgan, R.G. and Stalker, R.J. Double diaphragm driven free piston expansion tube. Shock waves: Proceedings of the 18th International Symposium on Shock Waves, Sendai 1991, Springer-Verlag.Google Scholar
6. Resler, E.L. and Bloxsom, D.E. Very high Mach number flows by unsteady flow principles. Cornell University Graduate School of Aeronautical Engineering limited distribution monograph, 1952.Google Scholar
7. Paull, A. Theoretical Analysis of Test Conditions in an Expansion Tube, Department of Mechanical Engineering report, 1989, The University of Queensland.Google Scholar
8. Mudford, N.R., Stalker, R.J. and Shields, I. Hypersonic nozzles, Aeronaut Q, May 1980, p 128.Google Scholar
9. Akman, N. and Morgan, R.G. Numerical simulation of viscous flow in a superorbital expansion tube, 19 ISSW, Marseille 1993.Google Scholar
10. Wilson, G.J. Time dependent quasi-one dimensional simulations of high enthalpy pulse facilities, AIAA 4th International Aerospace Planes Conference, 1-4 December 1992, Orlando Florida.Google Scholar
11. Tamagno, J. Hypervelocity real gas capabilities of GASL's expansion tube (Hypulse) facility, AIAA Paper 90-1390, June 1990.Google Scholar
12. Bakos, R.J. and Morgan, R.G. Chemical recombination in an expansion tube with an inertial secondary diaphragm rupture model, submitted to AIAA J, May 1993.Google Scholar
13. Jacobs, P. J. Numerical Simulation of Transient Hypervelocity Flow in an Expansion Tube, ICASE interim report 120, NASA contractor report 189601, January 1992.Google Scholar
14. Mirels, H. Test time in low-pressure shock tubes, Physics Fluids, 1963, 6, (9).Google Scholar
15. Rizkalla, O. Eqstate: program to calculate the equilibrium or frozen properties of a supersonic gas flow at the static and stagnation points upstream and downstream of a shock wave, General Applied Science Laboratories, New York, 1990.Google Scholar
16. Pratt, D.T. and Wormeck, J.J. Crek: A Computer Program for Calculation of Combustion Reaction Equilibrium and Kinetics in Laminar or Turbulent Flows. Report WSU-ME-TEL-76-1, 1976, Washington State University.Google Scholar
17. Shinn, J.L. and Miller, C.G. Experimental perfect-gas study of expansion-tube flow characteristics. NASA Technical Paper 1317, 1978.Google Scholar
18. Stalker, R.J. private communication, 1993.Google Scholar
19. Jones, J.J. Some performance characteristics of the LRC 3 ¾-inch pilot expansion tube using an unheated hydrogen driver, Fourth Hypervelocity Techniques Symposium, Tullahoma, Tennessee, November 1965.Google Scholar
20. Meyer, R.F. The impact of a shock wave on a movable wall, J Fluid Mech, 1957, 3, (3), pp 309–323.Google Scholar
21. Eckert, E.R.G. Engineering relations for friction and heat transfer to surfaces in high velocity flow, J Aeronaut Sci, August 1955, pp 585–587.Google Scholar
22. Anderson, J.D. Hypersonic and High Temperature Gas Dynamics, McGraw-Hill, New York, 1989.Google Scholar
23. Schultz, D.L. and Jones, T.V. Heat Transfer measurements in short duration hypersonic facilities, AGARDograph No. 165, February 1973.Google Scholar
24. He, Y. PhD thesis, Department of Mechanical Engineering, The University of Queensland, 1992.Google Scholar