DOI: 10.34808/8vrj-qs25
title: Sounding rocket temperature and heat transfer data

description: This dataset contains temperature and heat transfer data measured during REXUS 25 sounding rocket HEDGEHOG Experiment launched from Esrange Space Centre, Kiruna, Sweden. For experiment details, please see:
Dąbrowski, A., Pelzner, K., Krawczuk, S., Goczkowski, J., & Elwertowska, A. (2020). Preliminary results from HEDGEHOG REXUS project – A sounding rocket experiment on accelerations, vibrations and heat flow. ACTA ASTRONAUTICA, 177, 80-85. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.actaastro.2020.07.016 Experiment setup
A cylinder of aluminium covered with thin layer of insulation is considered. The design with necking forces homogenous heat flow, creating a simple 1D flow situation, easy for model fitting. At each end of the “neck”, a thermocouple was placed in such a way as to interfere with the heat flow as least as possible. The bigger inner part acted as a heat tank that holds a specific amount of thermal energy.
The heat flux q [W/m2] can be calculated using Fourier’s Law:
q = (k * ΔT) / L,
where:
k is thermal conductivity of material [W/(m·K)],
A is the cross section [m2],
ΔT is temperature difference [K] and
L is length of the necking [m].
By measuring temperatures with thermocouples, ΔT can be calculated, while other values are constants. In the case of this experiment: L = 0.07565 m, k = 150 W/(m·K). Note, this solution is protected under Polish patent 233268: Method for measuring of variability of the stream of heat from the tested surface, preferably from the space rocket shell (authors: Dąbrowski A., Dąbrowski L.).
For methodology, refer to:
Dąbrowski, A., & Dąbrowski, L. (2019). Inverse heat transfer problem solution of sounding rocket using moving window optimization. PLOS ONE, 14, 1-24. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0218600
 Measurement equipment
Temperature was measured with 4 T-type thermocouples.
T5: TP-212-T-b-35-380 no. P186275
T6: TP-212-T-b-35-380 no. P186276
T7: TP-212-T-b-35-380 no. P186277
T8: TP-212-T-b-35-380 no. P186278
Their readout was amplified and converted with Analog Devices LTC2983HLX#PBF temperature measurement system.
Calibration has been performed with 0.1 °C inaccuracy against the state unit of temperature measurement maintained in Central Office of Measures using the precision temperature sensor HERAEUS Pt100 no. 482671. Calibration certificates available at request (contact Adam Dąbrowski).
T5 and T8 are thermocouples located closer to the center of the rocket and T6 and T7 are located closer to the rocket skin. Files
flight_T5.txt - raw temperature measurement data from T5 thermocouple
flight_T6.txt - raw temperature measurement data from T6 thermocouple
flight_T7.txt - raw temperature measurement data from T7 thermocouple
flight_T8.txt - raw temperature measurement data from T8 thermocouple
heatflux_1.txt - heat flux calculated between T5 and T6
heatflux_2.txt - heat flux calculated between T7 and T8
temperatures.png - graph of temperatures T5, T6, T7, T8 (see below)
heatflux_events.png - graph of heat fluxes against flight events (see below)
Temperature data file format: plain text, UTF-8 encoding, data in columns, first column: time [s], second column: temperature [°C].Heat flux data file format: plain text, UTF-8 encoding, data in columns, first column: time [s], second column: heat flux [W/m2].