Infra-red and vibration tests of hybrid ablative/ceramic matrix technological breadboards for earth re-entry thermal protection systems

Infra-red and vibration tests of hybrid ablative/ceramic matrix technological breadboards for earth re-entry thermal protection systems

A new thermal protection system for atmospheric earth re-entry is proposed. This concept combines the advantages of both reusable and ablative materials to establish a new hybrid concept with advanced capabilities. The solution consists of the design and the integration of a dual shield resulting on...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Acta astronautica Vol. 134; pp. 85 - 97
Main Authors: Barcena, Jorge, Garmendia, Iñaki, Triantou, Kostoula, Mergia, Konstatina, Perez, Beatriz, Florez, Sonia, Pinaud, Gregory, Bouilly, Jean-Marc, Fischer, Wolfgang P.P.
Format: Journal Article
Language:English
Published: Elmsford Elsevier Ltd 01-05-2017
Elsevier BV
Subjects:
Ablative material
Ablative materials
Adhesives
Ariane launch vehicle
Atmospheric entry
Atmospheric models
Atmospheric re-entry
Ceramic matrix composite
Ceramic matrix composites
Ceramics
Composite materials
Computer simulation
Earth atmosphere
Finite element method
Fluctuations
Flux
Heating
Infra-red tests
Insulation
Joining
Protection systems
Thermal protection
Thermal protection systems
Thermal shock
Thermocouples
Tiles
Vibration
Vibration analysis
Vibration tests
Ceramic matrix composite
Adhesives
Thermal protection systems
Joining
Vibration tests
Atmospheric re-entry
Infra-red tests
Ablative material
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:A new thermal protection system for atmospheric earth re-entry is proposed. This concept combines the advantages of both reusable and ablative materials to establish a new hybrid concept with advanced capabilities. The solution consists of the design and the integration of a dual shield resulting on the overlapping of an external thin ablative layer with a Ceramic Matrix Composite (CMC) thermo-structural core. This low density ablative material covers the relatively small heat peak encountered during re-entry the CMC is not able to bear. On the other hand the big advantage of the CMC based TPS is of great benefit which can deal with the high integral heat for the bigger time period of the re-entry. To verify the solution a whole testing plan is envisaged, which as part of it includes thermal shock test by infra-red heating (heating flux up to 1MW/m2) and vibration test under launcher conditions (Volna and Ariane 5). Sub-scale tile samples (100×100mm2) representative of the whole system (dual ablator/ceramic layers, insulation, stand-offs) are specifically designed, assembled and tested (including the integration of thermocouples). Both the thermal and the vibration test are analysed numerically by simulation tools using Finite Element Models. The experimental results are in good agreement with the expected calculated parameters and moreover the solution is qualified according to the specified requirements. •New hybrid ablative/ceramic thermal protection system shield concept.•Design, construction and validation of breadboards for atmospheric earth re-entry.•Verification approach in terms of thermal and vibrational loads validation.•Important contributions towards the full development of the system.
ISSN:0094-5765
1879-2030
DOI:10.1016/j.actaastro.2017.01.045