Experimental study on a transpiration cooling thermal protection system

Abstract

Transpiration cooling thermal protection systems (TPS) are investigated for potential applications in hypersonic and re-entry vehicles, which are subjected to the severe aerodynamic heating environment. In this paper a transpiration cooling thermal protection system was designed and manufactured, and an experiment platform with radiant heating at the bottom as heat source was developed. The cooling capacity of the transpiration cooling TPS was experimentally investigated. By combining transpiration cooling method with traditional TPS, the heat load capability of the TPS can be improved. The structure temperature with active cooling applied was much lower than that without active cooling applied under the same heat load as well as the heat load increased with active cooling than the one without active cooling for the same structure temperature. The experimental results showed that at 5800 s, the temperature of inner structure was 100°C with active cooling applied compared to 500°C without active cooling applied, then the temperature increased and reached to 360°C at 8300 s. Heat load of this transpiration cooling TPS can be increased by over 70% as compared to the passion one and the cooling capability of the transpiration TPS was about 1700 kJ/kg. The results can provide fundamental data for developing the transpiration cooling TPS.