Daniel Iyinomen previously worked at the Institute for Advanced Engineering and Space Sciences, University of Southern Queensland (USQ), where he carried out an extensive PhD research work in Aerospace Engineering. Previous project was developing a new plasma preheating technique for investigating axisymmetric ablation models and aerothermodynamics of re-entry capsules in hypersonic impulse facilities.
Measurements of mass ablation rates in hypersonic flows are used to calibrate computational models. A novel plasma technique for preheating axisymmetric samples of heatshield materials has been developed and applied to ablation of graphite sample through this work. The experimental probe was very similar to the European standard probe, normal to the flow. The Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM) was used to examine the surface characteristics; and the experiments show a significant spatial variation in thickness loss for the graphite test material over the disc radius though the spatial variation was still largely axisymmetric. The present work does support reasonable contributions to reentries and can further be developed to validate computational models under conditions that replicate characteristics of reentry flights.
Part of the book: Hypersonic Vehicles