Scaled Hypersonic Test Bed

ABSTRACT:The objective of this proposal is to design an inexpensive hypersonic test article with an associated instrumentation package capable of providing measurements necessary for advancing the understanding of aerothermal behavior in the hypersonic flow regime. Significant advances and accuracy validation within multi-physics computational science and engineering (CSE) toolsets (such as computational fluid dynamics (CFD)) require focused, high fidelity test data acquisition. State-of-the-art CFD modeling, while having advanced significantly in the last three decades, still cannot adequately model boundary layer transition points.BENEFIT:The boundary layer transition measurements will facilicate improvements to computational modeling of the hypersonic flight regime. These improvements will increase the efficiency, reliability and performance of hypersonic flight vehicles. Improved computational models will, over time, reduce the requirement for testing shortening the development cycle and total cost for future systems. The hardened on board recorder (OBR) has additional commercial applications across the DoD and other industries requiring the recording of high data rate information in severe environments.