An Experimental Investigation on Transpiration Cooling for Supersonic Vehicle Nose Cone Using Porous Material

During hypersonic flight or cruise in the near space, the aerodynamic heating causes a very high temperature on the leading edge of hypersonic vehicles. Transpiration cooling has been recognized the most effective cooling technology. This paper presents an experimental investigation on transpiration cooling using liquid water as coolant for a nose cone model of hypersonic vehicles. The nose cone model consists of sintered porous material. The experiments were carried out in the Supersonic Jet Arc-heated Facility (SJAF) of China Academy of Aerospace Aerodynamics (CAAA) in Beijing. The cooling effect in the different regions of the model was analyzed, and the shock wave was exhibited. The pressure variations of the coolant injection system were continuously recorded. The aim of this work is to provide a relatively useful reference for the designers of coolant driving system in practical hypersonic vehicles.