Experimental investigations on the MHD interaction around a blunt body in a hypersonic unseeded air flows

Abstract

This paper deals with the experimental investigation on the magneto fluid dynamic interaction around a test body immersed into a hypersonic unseeded air flow. The experiments have been carried out in the CIRA owned plasma wind tunnel SCIROCCO. Two test conditions have been utilized for the experiments, with a total pressure of 2.5 and 2.3 bar respectively and a total specific enthalpy of 16 and 12.1 MJ/kg, and the air flow accelerated in the nozzle up to Mach 10. The magnetic induction field is generated by an electromagnet enclosed in the test article, and can reach a 0.8 T maximum value in the interaction region. The work has been conjunctly funded by the European Space Agency and The Italian Space Agency.