Experiments on a Blunt Cone Model in a Hypersonic Shock Tunnel

The experimental investigation on a 600 apex-angle is carried out to study feasibility of simultaneous measurement of drag and aerodynamic heating in a shock tunnel. A three-component accelerometer balance system is used to measure the drag whereas platinum thin film gauges are used for heating rate measurements on the surface of the blunt cone model. Since every ground test and flight test data have unique test conditions, so the importance of simultaneous measurement is realized by measuring both drag and heating rates under unique test conditions during gas injection at the nose of a blunt cone model flying at Mach 5.75, in a IISc hypersonic shock tunnel (HST2). In addition, flow visualization experiments are also conducted on the blunt cone model using electric discharge technique