Density and Temperature in Wind Tunnels Using Electron Beams

In a paper presented at the last meeting of the International Congress on Instrumentation in Aerospace Simulation Facilities, a method of measuring gas density by radiation scattering was presented. Since that time, the method has been further developed using scattering of 50-keV electrons and has been applied in a wind tunnel using air as a test gas. Test section temperature and density were in the neighborhood of 150°K and 6×10-8 g/cm3. In this application, accuracies better than 1.0 percent appear to be attainable, together with excellent spatial and temporal resolution. The application is described, and comprehensive design data are presented. In addition, the density measurements have been supplemented by measurements of the local rotational temperature, utilizing nitrogen molecular band radiation excited by a second electron beam. Comparisons between the density and temperature measurements and flow properties obtained by standard gas-dynamic calculations are made.