Enhanced Thermal Coupling by a Repetitively Pulsed Laser.
Abstract
The purpose of this thesis was to determine the effects of convection heat transfer, target vapor condensation, and radiation heat transfer on the observed enhanced thermal coupling of a pulsed laser to an Aluminum target. The need for this study is to develop a base from which the laser parameters needed to most efficiently couple laser energy to a metal target may be predicted. An attempt was made to analytically duplicate a set of experimental data in which enhanced thermal coupling was observed. Analytical relations were developed to compute the heat flux, into the surface of an Aluminum species, due to convection heat transfer, target vapor condensation, and plasma reradiation. From these relations, the most significant coupling mechanism was identified to be vapor condensation. Convection heat transfer was found to have a less significant effect on enhanced coupling, and plasma reradiation was found to be negligible. The calculations were performed by a three-dimensional Lagrangian hydrocode. The results of this work are somewhat inconclusive due to the extensive computer resources used by the hydrocode; however, the relations presented here do seem to give promising results. The work should be continued to investigate the effects of laser and target parameters on enhanced thermal coupling.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Mar 01, 1985
- Accession Number
- ADA154435
Entities
People
- J. R. Couick
Organizations
- Air Force Institute of Technology