Arc heater development at AEDC

Abstract

Abstract : The USAF/Arnold Engineering Development Center (AEDC) has undertaken an arc heater development program to develop a large, high-pressure, high-power arc heater capability. A large, state-of- the-art segmented arc heater (H3) is presently under development and is scheduled to be fully operational at chamber pressures up to 115 atm with a total power of 60 MW late 1995. The H3 arc heater is a 50-percent geometric scale- up of the existing Hi segmented arc heater and is designed to operate at 2.25 times the power of Hi. Future plans also include high-pressure (250 atm) segmented arc heater development, and development of a larger, higher power capability by manifolding several arc heaters into a single plenum or by developing a single very large arc heater. AEDO has also developed an extensive analytical capability to assist in the design and development of segmented arc heaters. This paper describes the present arc heater testing capabilities and development activities, along with future arc heater development plans.