Scalable Microwave Driven Jet Based Test Bed for Simulating Hypersonic Reentry Effects on Materials

Physical Sciences Inc. (PSI) proposes to implement the design of a dedicated hypersonic materials test bed to characterize the impact of the high Mach number reentry environment on materials. It will test and ultimately validate critical, advanced CFD microphysics models currently being utilized to assess designs of reentry systems. The test bed utilizes PSIs 5 kW microwave driven jet (MIDJetTM) technology to generate high enthalpy flow fields from an air fed, 2,0005,000 C and 210 atm. plenum. This flow enables localized heating rates in the range: 1 kW/cm2 (Threshold) to 5 kW/cm2 (Objective). The Phase II effort will complete the design and then build and validate the performance of the test bed. The composition of air flow fields generated by the MIDJetTM will be characterized with mass spectrometer and FTIR diagnostics.Optical diagnostics will include a 2-color imaging pyrometer and emission spectrometers covering the range: 0.315 m. The test bed will be utilized to characterize the impact of simulated reentry environments on existing and new ceramic matrix-composite materials of interest to the Air Force. The end result of the effort will be a validated TRL=6 test bed system which will remain available for follow-on materials testing contracts.