Comparison of High Enthalpy Air Flows produced by a induction Heated and a magnetoplasmadynamic Plasma Source

摘要

At the Institute for Space Systems (IRS) of the University of Stuttgart three plasma wind tunnels, PWK1, PWK2 and PWK3, are in operation to investigate the chemical behaviour of thermal protection systems of various space vehicles during planet entries. PWK1 and PWK2 are equipped with magnetoplasmadynamic plasma generators (MPG), which allow gas flows to be produced on an enthalpy level up to several hundreds of MJ/kg. They are mainly used to investigate the erosion mechanisms of passively cooled, oxidation protected heat shield materials based on C-C or C-SiC as well as the behaviour of ablative materials under thermal and chemical load. In case of PWK3 an inductively coupled discharge is used to generate the high enthalpy plasma flow. This facility will be used for the verification of experiments which were carried out within the plasma wind tunnels PWK1 and PWK2. Since it is possible to operate the plasma source with pure oxygen or oxygenic gases, this facility will also be used for basic research on, for example, the catalytic behaviour of thermal protection materials.