Performance and Evaluation of a Plasma Injection Wake Simulator

Research extending earlier measurements of the performance of a plasma injection wake simulator is reported. The simulator produces a plasma sheath about a blunted cone cylinder in a conventional M=4 supersonic wind tunnel at equivalent altitudes from 150 to 180 kilofeet. This plasma sheath also forms an ionized wake behind the pylon supported model. Reported near wake recovery temperatures are from 1000K to over 3000K with electron densities from 1 to 6 x 10 to the 10th power percc. Measured Mach number, recovery temperature and electron density profiles are presented for the simulated wake. These indicate that the simulator should be suitable for its intended purpose of measuring the influence of the ionized near wake on base-mounted microwave antennas.