PROPULSION SIMULATION FOR MAGNETICALLY SUSPENDED WIND TUNNEL MODELS (PC-056)

THIS PROPOSAL DEALS WITH METHODS FOR SIMULATING PROPULSION-INDUCED AERODYNAMIC EFFECTS ON MODELS IN MAGNETICSUSPENSION WIND TUNNELS. THE OBJECTIVE WILL BE TO ESTABLISHTHE FEASIBILITY OF DIFFERENT METHODS IN GENERATING THE MASS FLOW RATES AND VELOCITIES OF PROPULSIVE JETS FOR A VARIETY OF AIRCRAFT CONFIGURATIONS, FLIGHT REGIMES, AND MODEL SCALES. TO ACCOMPLISH THIS, THE CHARACTERISTICS OF JETS TO BE SIMULATED WILL BE DETERMINED FIRST USING DIMENSIONLESS PARAMETERS APPROPRIATE TO THE JET-FREE STREAM INTERACTION UNDER CONSIDERATION. NEXT, A THOROUGH EVALUATION OF VARIOUSON-BOARD GAS GENERATION TECHNIQUES WILL BE MADE. THIS WILL INCLUDE THEIR ABILITY TO PRODUCE THE REQUIRED MASS FLOW RATES AND VELOCITIES AS WELL AS THEIR MECHANICAL AND OPERATIONAL COMPATIBILITY WITH THE MODEL. THE TECHNIQUES RANGE FROM CONVENTIONAL GAS GENERATORS, USING CARBON DIOXIDECARTRIDGES AND SPECIALIZED SOLID PROPELLANT ROCKET MOTORS, TO THE NEW AND HIGHLY UNIQUE LASER-INDUCED PROPULSION CONCEPTS. SIMPLE, DIAGNOSTIC EXPERIMENTS WILL BE CONDUCTED TO DETERMINE THE ABILITY OF VARIOUS SOLID MATERIALS IN PRODUCING PROPULSIVE JETS WHEN IRRADIATED WITH A LASER BEAM.AT THE CONCLUSION OF PHASE I, A DEFINITIVE SET OF EXPERIMENTAL DESIGN PARAMETERS WILL BE AVAILABLE FOR DEMONSTRATING PROPULSION SIMULATION TECHNIQUES IN MAGNETIC SUSPENSION (OR CONVENTIONAL SUPPORT) WIND TUNNELS.