Experimental research on the effect of separation flow on ablation in supersonic turbulent flow

The development of a ground-test capability for simulating heating and pressure profile of the steps and cavities on a reentry vehicle surface, in order to study heat shield surface ablation phenomena is discussed. By means of an experimental technique which uses a flat-plate specimen containing steps and cavities placed at a small angle in a supersonic arc-heated flow, the ablation phenomena and surface temperature are examined. The results obtained, as well as a description of the facility, test method, model design, instrumentation, and its calibration are presented. The experiment is carried out in a CARDC arc heater whose operating conditions are 1-2 MPa of the arc chamber pressure and 4.2-12.6 MJ/Kg of the total enthalpy. It is shown that with the proper parameters, the ablation data can be corrected.