Photogrammetric Measurement of Recession Rates of Low Temperature Ablators in Supersonic Flow

Ablative heat shields have been used to protect hypersonic vehicles during atmospheric re-entry during the Apollo missions and could be used for future flight vehicles as well. However, it is exceptionally difficult to perform reliable tests at conditions which are representative of flight to validate the models. In this study, the AFIT Mach 3 pressure-vacuum wind tunnel was used in combination with models consisting of dry ice. Measurement was obtained with projected laser dots, high-speed multi-camera photography and PhotoModeler PMV (pre-cursor to PhotoModeler Motion).