Optical Imaging Techniques for Hypersonic Impulse Facilities

The application of optical imaging techniques to hypersonic facilities is discussed and examples of experimental measurements are provided. Traditional Schlieren and shadowgraph techniques still remain as inexpensive and easy to use flow visualisation techniques. With the advent of faster cameras, these methods are becoming increasingly important for time-resolved high-speed imaging. Interferometry's quantitative nature is regularly used to obtain density information about hypersonic flows. Recent developments have seen an extension of the types of flows that can be imaged and the measurement of other flow parameters such as ionisation level. Planar laser induced fluorescence has been used to visualise complex flows and to measure such quantities as temperature and velocity. Future directions for optical imaging are discussed.