Research and Development of High Speed Test Track Facility in Japan

Self Cite

Nitrous oxide is in a gas-liquid equilibrium state at room temperature, and its vapor pressure is very useful concerning devices such as a pressure-fed hybrid rocket engine systems. However, it is not easy to estimate the flow history of the equilibrium flow. The vapor pressure and the latent heat of the vaporization of nitrous oxide strongly depend on its temperature. Though many models have been proposed, we used a simple equilibrium model and examined important parameters and negligible parameters considering experimental results. Experimental results displayed a substantial difference between the top and bottom tank temperatures, and that the tank pressure greatly matched the saturated vapor pressure at the liquid-phase temperature. A simple analysis showed that the determination of initial temperature was the most important factor and the heat transfer from the tank wall to the nitrous oxide was negligible.

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…As P N2O is defined at the equilibrium state, density can be defined both for the liquid and gas phase as shown in Eqs. (5) and (6). The state of N 2 O is very close to the critical point and we must not use the ideal gas state equation anywhere in this calculation.…”

Section: Single Temperature Modelmentioning

confidence: 99%

N<sub>2</sub>O Flow History Prediction in an Oxidizer Feed Line of Hybrid Rockets

Nakata

Yasuda

Okada

et al. 2018

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“…This facility is opened to the researchers of another university or research organization. Although the detail of this facility is described in our previous reports 2,3) , this paper especially focuses on the onboard balance system equipped on the rocket sled.…”

Section: High Speed Test Track Facilitymentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The sled was propelled by 4 hybrid rockets along the 300 m-long rail track and decelerated by water braking system. The detail of propulsion and braking system is written in our past reports 2,3) . Total weight at the experiment was 150-200 kg including propulsion system, balance, test models and counter weights.…”

Section: Test Platformsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Aerodynamic Measurement on the High Speed Test Track

Nakata

Nishine²,

Tateoke

et al. 2014

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This paper describes onboard balance system used in the rocket sled test on the high speed test track. Newly developed acceleration-compensated balance mechanically cancels inertia force and enables us to use suitable size load cells for expected aerodynamic force. Lift force was evaluated by another internal 6-axis balance. With a flat plate and AGARD-B model, system verification tests were conducted to clear the accuracy of this system. Although the cancellation of the onboard G-force was almost accomplished, uncertainty of the wind speed or mechanical friction in the system caused severe error to the measured drag coefficient.

“…This result indicates a flight capability to reach Mach 2.0. Higher Mach numbers would be achieved by attaining reduction in overall drag and structural weight as well as by utilizing an acceleration assist such as the high-speed sled track facility 11) . …”

Section: Flight Capability Predictionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Development of a Small-scale Supersonic Flight Experiment Vehicle as a Flying Test Bed for Future Space Transportation Research

Mizobata

Minato

Higuchi

et al. 2014

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Innovation in technologies for high-speed atmospheric flights is essential for establishment of both supersonic/hypersonic and reusable space transportations. It is quite effective to verify such technologies through small-scale flight tests in practical high-speed environments, prior to installation to large-scale vehicles. Thus we are developing a small-scale supersonic flight experiment vehicle as a flying test bed. Several aerodynamic configurations are proposed and analyzed by wind tunnel tests. A twin-engine configuration with a cranked-arrow main wing is selected as the baseline of the first generation vehicle. Its flight capability is predicted by point mass analysis on the basis of aerodynamic characterization and propulsion performance estimation. In addition, a prototype vehicle with an almost equivalent configuration and dimension is designed and fabricated for verification of the subsonic flight characteristics of the experiment vehicle. Its first flight test is carried out and good flight capability is demonstrated. Furthermore a revised aerodynamic configuration with an air-turbo ramjet gas-generator cycle (ATR-GG) engine is being designed for the second generation design with improvement in flight capability at higher Mach numbers. Development of the engine, airframe structure, and autonomous guidance/control system is underway. This prospective flight experiment vehicle will be applied to flight verification of innovative fundamental technologies for high-speed atmospheric flights such as turbo-ramjet propulsion with endothermic or biomass fuels, MEMS and morphing techniques for aerodynamic control, aero-servo-elastic technologies, etc.