Two Years of Arc Tunnel Experience at Centrospazio

Centrospazio has recently developed a small archeated wind tunnel (High Enthalpy Arc-heated Tunnel, HEAT) whose flexible configuration is particularly suited for cost-effective experimentation and research on a wide variety of aerothermodynamic phenomena occurring in high speed flows. The design and operation of the HEAT has involved a number of critical aspects, ranging from the feasibility and realisation of the proposed concept, to the effectiveness and performance of pulsed arc tunnels for hypersonic aerothermodynamic testing and the applicability of the necessary instrumentation in the hostile environment of the tunnel test section. The present article reviews some of the experience and results recently got at Centrospazio on these matters, including the development and performance of some relatively novel techniques for the measurement of the free stream total temperature and turbulence intensity in the tunnel test section.