Oxidation response of transpiration-cooled ZrB2 on a hypersonic stagnation point

Journal article

This work presents the oxidation response of a transpiration-cooled hypersonic stagnation point made of porous ZrB2. Low-order models are used to calculate the surface temperature and oxygen concentration for a given flight condition. An analytical material oxidation model computes the surface recession and oxide layer thickness. A 500 s steady-state trajectory at 44 km altitude and 3.6  km/s velocity is found to lead to 2.2 mm recession of the 3 mm nose radius. A constant mass injection at a blowing parameter of 0.6 reduces the recession to just 0.21 mm. The displacement of freestream oxygen by transpiration cooling has a significant effect on oxidation. Not accounting for the displacement of oxygen at the surface would increase the recession by up to 197%. The recession along the transient trajectory of an envisioned hypersonic vehicle with a 3 mm nose radius is found to exceed 0.94 mm with no mass injection. It is shown that nitrogen and helium injection at a blowing parameter of 0.6 can reduce the recession to 0.13 and 0.075 mm, respectively.

Authors: Ewenz Rocher, M; Hermann, T; McGilvray, M

• Publication status: Published
• Peer review status: Peer reviewed
• Publisher: American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics
• Journal: Journal of Spacecraft and Rockets More from this journal
• Volume: 59
• Issue: 5
• Pages: 1486-1495
• Publication date: 2022-05-15
• Acceptance date: 2022-04-10
• DOI: 10.2514/1.A35309
• EISSN: 1533-6794
• ISSN: 0022-4650
• Language: English
• Keywords: FFR