Non-Intrusive Characterization and Numerical Investigation on a Mach 10 Ionized Air Flow

Abstract

This paper deals with the measurements performed to characterize the jet produced by the plasma wind tunnel SCIROCCO. The measurements are aimed to determine the vibrational temperature and the electron density of the plasma flow. A numerical rebuilding of the expansion trough the nozzle has then been performed. The work is part of an experimental activity funded by the European Space Agency and by the Italian Space Agency in the framework of a conjunct research project on the MHD interaction in an unseeded hypersonic air flow.

Problems and perspectives of state-to-state kinetics for high enthalpy plasma flows (Invited)

“…(4) for a magnetized plasma, has been used also to investigate the mutual interaction of electric and magnetic field in expanding argon flow [65], calculating the eedf and the population of metastable argon. However the interest for MHD interaction in argon is limited, and recently an experiment in air has been carried out in SCIROCCO, for a Mach 10 flow around a blunt body [68], showing appreciable effects when the magnetic field is turned on. In this paper the conditions at the nozzle exit has been determined by a StS model.…”