Arcjet rocket

About: Arcjet rocket is a research topic. Over the lifetime, 1121 publications have been published within this topic receiving 9687 citations. The topic is also known as: Arcjet.

Integrated arcjet having a heat exchanger and supersonic energy recovery chamber

Abstract: A gas ionizable to produce a plasma is introduced into an arcjet whose design includes integration of performance enhancing components in a complimentary manner to significantly improve arcjet performance and capabilities. Major integrated design features include an energy recovery chamber, heat exchanger and by-pass gas flow system which enable the integrated arcjet to operate with minimal frozen flow energy losses, high specific powers and very high thrust levels.

Plasma diagnostics of a direct‐current arcjet diamond reactor. II. Optical emission spectroscopy

Abstract: Diagnostic analyses were performed on a dc arcjet diamond reactor using optical emission spectroscopy. Rotational and vibrational excitation temperatures were determined from C2 and CH emission spectra and observed to differ widely at all locations in the plasma except near the substrate. Temperatures were observed to converge at the substrate, indicating thermal equilibration of the plasma. Rotational excitation temperatures for C2 and vibrational excitation temperatures for CH appear to closely track the plasma gas temperature, while vibrational excitation temperatures for C2 and rotational excitation temperatures for CH are anomalously high. A detailed analysis was conducted to identify the dominant excitation processes responsible for producing emission. Results show that (1) excitation to the excited state for both C2 and CH is most likely due to thermal excitation near the substrate, (2) in the plasma bulk, emission by CH is produced primarily by chemiluminescent reactions while emission by C2 is pr...

Arcjet flow properties determined from laser-induced fluorescence of atomic nitrogen

Abstract: Flow property measurements that were recently acquired in the Ames Research Center Aerodynamic Heating Facility arcjet using two-photon laser-induced fluorescence (LIF) of atomic nitrogen (N) are reported. The flow properties, which include velocity, translational temperature, and N concentration, were measured simultaneously over a range of facility operating conditions for N2–argon test gas flows in the 30-cm-diameter nozzle. A recent measurement of the two-photon excitation cross section for the 3p4D° ← 2p4S° transition of atomic nitrogen is used to convert the relative nitrogen concentration measurements to absolute values, and a nitrogen flow reactor is used to provide a room-temperature, reference-wavelength calibration of the translational temperature and velocity measurements. When combined with information from facility measurements, an analysis of the flow properties obtained using two-photon LIF of N yields the total free-stream flow enthalpy.

Near- and far-field plume studies of a one-kilowatt arcjet

Abstract: To support studies of transport in arcjet plumes, axial and radial profiles of electron temperature, electron number density, stagnation pressure, and flow field were obtained over an extensive volume of the plume of a 1-kW arcjet operating on hydrogen. All experiments were performed in a 6 by 9 m vacuum chamber at a tank pressure of less than 4 x 10 ~4 torr during arcjet operation. Electron temperatures obtained spectroscopically 1.2 cm downstream of the exit plane ranged from 0.10 to 0.13 eV, while electron number densities determined ~2 cm downstream of the exit plane via langmuir probe varied between 0.3-1 x 10 12 cm~3. Far-field langmuir probe measurements showed that a rapid radial variation in electron number density exists, ranging from 0.5 to 5 x 10 9cm~3, and from 0.5 to 2 x 10 9 cm~3, 30 and 88 cm downstream of the exit plane, respectively. Electron temperatures at these axial locations show much less of an axial dependence, ranging between 0.070.20 eV at both axial positions. Finally, an impact pressure probe was used to measure the radial profiles of stagnation pressure 53 and 64 cm from the exit plane as well as flow angle. The impact pressure probe data compare favorably with stagnation pressures predicted by a source-flow code and suggests that the heavy particles diffuse less radially than do the electrons.