PHEDRA (Arc-jet) high enthalpy wind tunnel

Phedra wind tunnel takes part of the European Landscape Network portal MERIL.

PHEDRA is a plasma ground test facility used to simulate low pressure flight conditions in the upper layer of the planetary atmospheres.

Different working gases can be used like Argon, nitrogen, CO2, CH4 Air, allowing the simulation of several planetary entry conditions like earth (80%N2-20%O2), Mars (97%CO2-3%N2) or Titan (99% N2-1% CH4).

Various types of diagnostics are associated to the wind tunnel PHEDRA: Pitot Probes, Pressure sensors for parietal measurements, Heat transfer gauges, Infrared thermography camera, iCCD camera, Electrostatic probes, Optical spectrometry (near IR, visible and VUV).

They are employed for fundamental and applied studies in the fields of Compressible Aerodynamics, Aerothermodynamics, Atmospheric entries and Gas and Plasma Physics.