Characterization of CO2 flow in a hypersonic impulse facility using DLAS

This work documents diode laser absorption measurements of CO 2 flow in the free stream of the Longshot hypersonic impulse facility at Mach numbers ranging from 10 to 12. The diode laser sensor was designed to measure absorption of the P12 (30013) ← (00001) transition near 1.6 μ m, which yields relatively weak direct absorption levels (3.5 % per meter at peak Longshot free-stream conditions). Despite this weak absorption, measurements yielded valuable flow property information during the first 20 ms of facility runs. Simultaneous measurements of static temperature, pressure, and velocity were acquired in the inviscid core flow region using a laser wavelength scanning frequency of 600 Hz. The free-stream values obtained from DLAS measurements were then compared to Longshot probe-derived values determined from settling chamber and probe measurements. This comparison enabled an assessment of the traditional method of flow characterization in the facility, which indicated negligible influence from possible vibrational freezing of reservoir gases.