Local Enthalpy Measurements in a Supersonic Arcjet Facility

Abstract

Results of the application of a mass-injection probe to estimate the local mass-specific enthalpy in a supersonic air plasma flow are presented. Up to now this probe has only been applied to subsonic flows. Numerical calculations to interpret the probe behavior are shown and compared to experimental results. Furthermore, to interpret the measured local mass-specific enthalpies, classical enthalpy estimation methods are used together with analytical calculations of the turbulent free plasma jet and fairly good agreement is found.