High-Bandwidth High-Resolution Sensor for Hypersonic Flows

There is the need for new diagnostic instrumentation capable of detailed hypersonic flow field characterization with spatial resolution of order 1 mm3 and temporal bandwidth of order MHz. In this proposal Princeton Scientific Instruments, in collabrationwith the Ohio State University Gas Dynamics and Turbulence Laboratory, offers a novel solution based on PSI's recently developed Ultra High Frame Rate CCD Imager, in combination with a burst mode laser source developed by OSU. We will demonstrate, inPhase I, the potential of a new MHz frame rate velocity imaging diagnostic, termed Planar Doppler Fluorescence Velocimetry (PDFV). The proposed hypersonic flow diagnostics are based on Planar Laser Induced Fluorescence (PLIF) imaging of the nitric oxide(NO) molecule, which, because it is a gas at temperatures as low as ~75k, is readily seeded into even hypersonic flow facilities. In Phase II we will demonstrate the practical utility of the system by performing measurements in a Mach 5 Hypersonic WindTunnel. The proposed instrument system will also serve as a flexible diagnostic tool, capable of density and temperature imaging at frame rates as high as 1 MHz, and more conventional measurements, such as focusing Schlieren, Shack-Hartman wave frontsensing, and holographic interferometry, at even higher frame rates. Ultra-high frame rate camera and pulse burst laser instrument system will be applicable to diagnostic instrumentation for high-entrophy hypersonic ground-test facilities. Potentialdual-use applications include in lower speed flow regimes and possible bio-medical applications.