UDC 536.2

H. A. Mohammed, H. Salleh, and M. Z. Yusoff

THERMAL PRODUCT ESTIMATION METHOD FOR AERODYNAMICS EXPERIMENTS
This paper presents an experimental technique to estimate the appropriate thermal product values of rugged and fast response temperature probes (TPs) for hypersonic aerodynamic experiments. Two types of scratches were used, mainly abrasive papers with different grit sizes and scalpel blades with different thicknesses, to form the probe junction. The effect of scratch technique on the probe's thermal product is investigated. The probes are tested and calibrated in the test section and in the end wall of shock tube facility. It is observed that the thermal product of a particular TP depends on the Mach number, junction scratch technique, and junction location, as well as on the enthalpy conditions. It is noted that, depending on the scratch technique, some of the TPs do not require an individual calibration; however, calibration for others is likely to be needed. Keywords: experimental technique; thermal product; temperature probe; hypersonic aerodynamics flow; shock tube. Department of Mechanical Engineering, College of Engineering, Universiti Tenaga Nasional, Km 7, Jalan Kajang-Puchong, 43009, Kajang, Selangor, Malaysia; email: hussein@uniten.edu.my. Original article submitted November 28, 2009; revision submitted June 1, 2010.