Stagnation temperature in a cold hypersonic flow produced by a light free piston compression facility

Stagnation temperatures at the nozzle exit of the University of Southern Queensland hypersonic wind tunnel facility have been identified using an aspirating tube device with a 0.075 mm diameter k-type butt-welded thermocouple junction positioned at its inlet. Because of the finite thermal inertia of the thermocouple, a response time correction is introduced, and uncertainties in the response time correction are assessed and minimized by operating the aspirating device over a range of different initial temperatures. Pressure measurements within the barrel of the wind tunnel facility were used to estimate a theoretical upper bound on the flow stagnation temperature by assuming isentropic compression of the test gas. Results demonstrate that for the current operating conditions, the gas which is first delivered into the hypersonic nozzle has a stagnation temperature almost identical to the isentropic compression value of around 560 K, but a cooling effect is registered for the duration of the test flow which is about 200 ms. Thermodynamic simulations based on an unsteady energy balance model with turbulent heat transfer from the test gas within the barrel demonstrate a cooling effect of a similar magnitude to that indicated by the measured temperature variation, suggesting that strong mixing of the test gas occurs within the barrel during flow discharge through the hypersonic nozzle.