Response of a thin panel to aerothermal loading at mach 6

An experiment was recently conducted in the AFRL Mach 6 High Reynolds Number Facility to observe the response of a generic vehicle wedge-mounted, thin metallic panel. The panel exhibited thermal buckling during model injection. The post-buckled deformation continued to increase while the model was injected, achieving a peak deflection of four times the panel thickness, approximately equal to the height of the boundary-layer. The buckling direction was found to be a function of the total pressure, model location in the test section, and initial temperature difference between the panel and the frame. Experimental measurements are compared with numerical simulations of a finite element model of the panel. These comparisons reveal that the stiffening effect caused by the thermal buckling of the panel is so severe that the aerodynamic pressure has a negligible effect on the panel response. The computational model also highlights the high sensitivity of the panel to snap-through during injection to changes in model location, total pressure, and initial temperature. Future efforts will utilize the finite element model to design test conditions where dynamic structural response and aerothermoelastic coupling may be observed.