Aerospace Thermal-Structural Testing Technology

Abstract

This review article describes aerospace thermal-structural testing technology. It begins with discussions of aerodynamic heating and space radiation heating. The review continues with a general discussion of thermal-structural test technology including heating and cooling, instrumentation, and thermal-structural boundary conditions. Then illustrative thermal structural tests are presented for high speed flight in the atmosphere and flight in space. Experiments conducted in the laboratory as well as flight tests are described. Several experiments are reviewed to demonstrate the diversity of thermal-structural phenomena. This article includes 120 references.