Calorimetry at the NASA Ames Arc Jet Complex

NASA’s Ames Research Center currently operates a number of arc-heated facilities within the Arc Jet Complex. These facilities produce supersonic, high-temperature gas flows that simulate the aerothermal environment a body experiences when traversing the atmosphere of a planet, primarily to test heat shield materials and thermal protection system (TPS) components. Heat-flux measurement devices or calorimeters are routinely used for characterizing the flow environment. This presentation will survey the variety of calorimeters that have been utilized over the more than 60-years of operations in these facilities. This will include a brief description of the particular calorimeter, its key operating features, operational limits, and optimal mode of use. This presentation will cover Thermal Capacitance (Slug), Copper-Constantan Circular Foil (Gardon Gage), Transient Null Point, Coaxial Thermocouple (COAX), and Temperature-Gradient (Schmidt-Boelter) calorimeters.