Measurements of T5 Shock Tunnel Freestream Temperature, Velocity, and Composition

Abstract

We report on measurements of rotational and vibrational temperature, velocity, and concentrations of nitric oxide (NO) in freestream flows at the T5 reflected shock tunnel at California Instistute of Technology. Quantities were measured at 50 kHz by tunable diode laser absorption spectroscopy using five lasers simultaneously to sample 27 quantum state-specific transitions. To isolate core flow measurements from the shear flow surrounding it, optical flow-cutter arms were designed. Two sets of arms with differing optical path lengths were used to assess freestream spatial uniformity. This study consists of nine total experiments (“shots”) spanning four nominal conditions with reservoir enthalpy 8–21 MJ/kg and flow velocity 3.5–5.5 km/s. Freestream measurements generally imply thermal equilibrium of the rotational and vibrational temperatures except at lower-enthalpy conditions. We compare temperature measurements with predictions from five species air simulations and find reasonable agreement at lower-enthalpy conditions but underprediction of NO concentrations. At higher-enthalpy conditions, we observed transitory agreement in temperature but overprediction of NO concentrations. Measured and simulated velocity generally agree well across all conditions. Carbon monoxide, water, and potassium were also detected in the T5 flow, and their concentrations are reported where relevant.