BOUNDARY LAYER TURBULENCE SURFACE SENSOR ARRAY FOR HYPERSONIC FLIGHT AND GROUND TEST

Abstract

The primary scientific goal of this DURIP proposal is to develop and flight certify instrumentation to quantify basic hypersonic turbulent boundary layer scaling to inform theoretical modeling and simulation. Specifically, funding is requested to develop a BOundary Layer Turbulence Surface Sensor Array (BOLT-SSA) to be used on the BOLT Flight II in Memory of Mike Holden (Holden flight). A key opportunity associated with this proposal is the ability to assess the BOLTSSA for flight test through direct comparison with supporting full-scale ground test of the as-flown BOLT II hardware. The BOLT-SSA will combine commercial off the shelf (COTS) sensors to provide a local measurement of two-axis skin friction, 2D pressure gradients, surface temperature, heat flux, and 2D heat flux gradients. In terms of broad impact across the hypersonics community, the BOLT-SSA will enhance the quality of research and research-related education of the Holden flight by significantly increasing the number of surface sensors that directly target boundary layer scaling; e.g., the Reynolds analogy for strained hypersonic boundary layer flow. The Holden flight represents a major AFOSR program, which involves twelve funded organizations across government and academia, with supporting ground tests within eight facilities across the US and Australia. In addition, the BOLTSSA will enhance the quality of research and research-related education for four other DoD sponsored projects at Texas AandM University. The instruments are attributable in flight. For ground test, the sensors are reusable for optimization in conformal wind tunnel model housings, with a useful lifetime of ~10 years.

Document Details

Document Type
DoD Grant Award
Publication Date
Mar 07, 2023
Source ID
FA95502110105

Entities

People

  • Rodney Bowersox

Organizations

  • Air Force Office of Scientific Research
  • United States Air Force

Tags

Fields of Study

  • Physics

Readers

  • Enterprise Information Systems Architecture and Joint Command Capability Interoperability Support.
  • Fluid Mechanics and Fluid Dynamics.
  • Research Science/Academic Research

Technology Areas

  • Hypersonics
  • Hypersonics - Hypersonic Boundary Layers
  • Hypersonics - Hypersonic Flow