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The constricted art heater is NASA's principal tool for high enthalpy testing of heatshield materials for planetary entry. NASA and the country at large have no validated tool for time-accurate simulation of large constricted arc heaters. The Arc Heater Simulation Toolkit, iniitated in FY18 by the Entry System Modeling (ESM) project with IRAD/CIF funding is poised to fill this void. Activites will include continued software and physics model development (e.g., improved time integration, electrode erosion physics, turbulence modeling, and radiation transport for variable gas mixtures); validation using existing and new non-intrusive data from the Ames Research Center arc jets; and application studies of low-cost opportunities for facility performance enhancement (geometry optimization, improved mixing and energy efficiency)
NASA relies on arc jets for development and qualification of all TPS materials. Greater knowledge of the test environment will result in improved ground-flight traceability. This effort will provide a better understanding of energy deposition in the arc column and could result in improved efficiency and larger test envelopes for existing facilities without needing costly upgrades.
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