Heat Flux Measurements in Hypersonic Environments

Measurement of heat flux on a hypersonic test article (ground or flight) poses many challenges, from determining the best location for the measurements, ensuring survivability and increasing reliability to test article integration with minimal disturbance to the vehicle’s TPS and to the sensor’s performance. In this webinar, we give an overview of the numerous challenges of measuring heat flux to a hypersonic vehicle/test article. A simple “roadmap,” with lessons learned is presented for implementing these sensors in the hypersonic environment. The roadmap shows how simulation technology for mechanical, thermal and fluid analysis has been used to compress the design process and the testing phase. Simulation delivers deeper insight into the physical processes involved and leads to design changes that avoid costly failures.