Plasma preheating technology for replicating planetary re-entry surface temperatures

Arc-jet facilities have been the norm for ablation experiments used to calibrate computational models to date. However, the arc jet has a few major limitations and challenges, including non-uniform enthalpy distribution, non-equilibrium state, change of surface quality during testing and the extent of oxidation, to name but a few. A novel plasma technique for preheating axisymmetric heatshield samples in hypersonic impulse facilities is presented herein. The major aim of this innovative work is to help reduce the large variations of ablation rate predictions, space vehicle materials and missile design/testing, obtain strongly coupled hypersonic boundary layers and achieve lower cost of aerothermodynamics experiments. This present work remains one of the most highly anticipated solutions to maximise payload success and replicate high surface temperatures identical to those experienced by real flight vehicles. This work makes a useful contribution to re-entry studies under conditions that replicate the characteristics of re-entry flights. Future applications for the technique are expected to be found in hypersonic impulse facilities that can simulate the true flow energy under re-entry conditions.