Experimental investigation of re-entry aerodynamic phenomena - Development of non-intrusive ?ow diagnostics in a Ludwieg tube

To further improve the design of hypersonic vehicles so that fully reusable systems become a reality, the detailed understanding of the ?ow ?eld that the vehicle generates is of paramount importance. The thesis deals with the aspects of experimental ?ow research which includes also the ?ow facility and the measurement techniques. First a description is given of the investigation and assessment of the Hypersonic Test Facility Delft (HTFD), which is the facility used in the experiments. Thereafter two measurement techniques, particle image velocimetry (PIV) and quantitative infrared thermography (QIRT) are introduced that enable to obtain high quality measurement data of the hypersonic ?ow ?eld generated by the HTFD. In the remainder of the thesis two important ?ow phenomena, shock wave boundary layer interaction and boundary layer transition, have been investigated using PIV and QIRT that are of great importance for re-entry vehicles.AerodynamicsAerospace Engineerin