Accession Number:

ADA021275

Title:

Thermomechanical Ablation

Descriptive Note:

Doctoral thesis

Corporate Author:

AIR FORCE INST OF TECH WRIGHT-PATTERSON AFB OH SCHOOL OF ENGINEERING

Personal Author(s):

• Jumper, Jr, George Y.

Report Date:

1975-09-01

Pagination or Media Count:

192.0

Abstract:

In order to investigate the heat and mass transfer aspects of thermomechanical ablation, ablation experiments were performed with models made of pure carbon dioxide CO2 and a glass bead-CO2 composite. The experiments were performed in a low subsonic, low turbulence jet at ambient pressure and near 0 deg C temperature. The model geometry was a hemispherical forebody-cylindrical afterbody with a diameter of 25mm. The stagnation point mass transfer of the pure CO2 models was 6.2 less than predicted by equilibrium theory. The distribution around the hemisphere generally agreed with the predicted laminar heat transfer result of monotonically decreasing heat transfer with distance from the stagnation point. The internal temperature response was approximately 5 higher than the theoretically predicted wall temperature. These results could be correlated by the inclusion of a nonequilibrium sublimation model into the theoretical prediction equations.

Descriptors:

• *ABLATION
• *THERMOMECHANICS
• REENTRY VEHICLES
• TEMPERATURE
• LABORATORY TESTS
• ATMOSPHERE ENTRY
• EXPERIMENTAL DESIGN
• GRAPHS
• THESES
• GRAPHITE
• TEST EQUIPMENT
• GLASS
• MASS TRANSFER
• SUBLIMATION
• SUPERSONIC FLOW
• CARBON DIOXIDE
• STAGNATION
• MATHEMATICAL MODELS
• BEADS
• HEAT TRANSFER

Subject Categories:

• Spacecraft Trajectories and Reentry

Distribution Statement:

APPROVED FOR PUBLIC RELEASE