Experimental Activities on the MHD Interaction in a Hypersonic Argon and Nitrogen Flows

This paper reports the experimental activities on MHD flow control carried out in Italy in the framework of few research projects. Experiments has been carried out in argon and nitrogen hypersonic flows. In the experiments reported, sharp and blunt bodies has been investigated at Mach 6 and Mach 15. Some detail of the experiments performed in CIRA Ghibli hypersonic facility are given. In Ghibli, the MHD interaction around a blunt body in a nitrogen flow has been investigated. The criteria utilized to define the proper test conditions and to design and realize the model are here described. Moreover, an MFD code has been used in order to calculate the expected interaction effect, under the assumption of low Rem. The same procedure has been utilized for the design of an MHD test to be performed in the CIRA Scirocco facility.