The Measurement of 2-D Density Distribution at the Downstream of a Micronozzle of a Spacecraft Using Electron Beam Induced Fluorescence

Abstract

The ratio between thrust generated by a micronozzle and the theoretical thrust under assumption of quasi-one-dimensional compressible fluid generally drops as the Reynolds number of fluid gets lower. Therefore many experiments have been done to measure and reveal the characteristic values in the micronozzle flow including density distribution. However, the method in previous research could measure only one point at same time and simultaneous multi-dimension measurement was not possible. In this study, we proposed a new method to measure simultaneous 2-D density distribution by using camera and electron beam induced fluorescence. We found out that the 2-D absolute density distribution at the downstream of a micronozzle with the Reynolds number around 100 could be obtained by the proposed method.