Experimental investigation of a nitrogen high-enthalpy flow

Abstract

This article presents experimental results of a nitrogen high-enthalpy plasma flow obtained within a test campaign at the Institut fuer Raumfahrtsysteme. Different measurement techniques have been applied to determine the flowfield properties in flow direction and the distributions at two cross sections, i.e., pressure, heat flux, velocity, electron density, and temperature measurements. These measurements make possible the calculations of the local specific enthalpy and the mass flux distributions of the plasma plume. The experimental data at the first cross section are to be used as initial and boundary conditions; the comparison of the calculated and experimental results at the second cross section allow the verification of the models used in numerical codes. 24 refs.