Real-Time Ablation Recession Rate Sensor System for Advanced Reentry Vehicles
Start Date
29-2-2012 11:25 AM
Description
The development of a new sensor system for in-situ, real-time measurements of recession rate of heat shield ablative materials is described. The sensor utilizes a focused ultrasound approach to non-intrusively detect the ablative material’s surface loss while simultaneously correcting for acoustic velocity dependencies on temperature. The latter correction is done via an electronic-based scan-focus approach. The multi-source focusing approach is atypical of current ultrasound based sensors used for ablation recession rate measurement, which require a-priori knowledge of temperature distribution within the ablative to yield accurate data on recession rate. The paper describes the development of the sensor system resulting in a brassboard system that demonstrates its operational aspects and possibilities as a heat shield health monitoring system for future reentry vehicles.
Real-Time Ablation Recession Rate Sensor System for Advanced Reentry Vehicles
The development of a new sensor system for in-situ, real-time measurements of recession rate of heat shield ablative materials is described. The sensor utilizes a focused ultrasound approach to non-intrusively detect the ablative material’s surface loss while simultaneously correcting for acoustic velocity dependencies on temperature. The latter correction is done via an electronic-based scan-focus approach. The multi-source focusing approach is atypical of current ultrasound based sensors used for ablation recession rate measurement, which require a-priori knowledge of temperature distribution within the ablative to yield accurate data on recession rate. The paper describes the development of the sensor system resulting in a brassboard system that demonstrates its operational aspects and possibilities as a heat shield health monitoring system for future reentry vehicles.