Analysis of Planar Laser-Induced Fluorescence Images Obtained During Shakedown Testing of the AEDC Impulse Facility.

Following a proof-of-principle demonstration of Planar Laser-Induced Fluorescence (PLIF) in the AEDC Impulse Facility in FY93, a set of four PLIF images was obtained during FY94 runs of the facility. The images were obtained away from the nose region of a spherically blunt cone, using excitation of nitric oxide in the flow. Two laser sheet geometries were employed and two excitation wavelengths were used. A procedure was developed whereby calibration images allow the remapping of the PLIF images to test article coordinates. Using this technique, it was shown that the bow shock positions determined by PLIF agree well with the shock positions measured using schlieren photography. More importantly, the set of PLIF images constitutes an initial database against which Computational Fluid Dynamics calculations of high enthalpy flows can be compared. Initial results of such a comparison, obtained through Computational Flow Imaging, are reported. Recommendations are given for future PLIF applications at the Impulse Facility. (MM)
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