Develpment of a Free Flyer Launch Mechansim

A free flyer model launch mechanism is a cheap, simple structure that eliminates the need for support structures within a supersonic or hypersonic tunnel. This allows research of the flow region behind the model to be conducted. In 2007 an interference free model release system was developed by Robert Krupinski and was improved on in 2008 for the T-ADFA shock tunnel. This project will develop a new launch mechanism which launches the projectile into the flow as opposed to dropping it like the previous two examples. This system is being developed for the University of Southern Queensland’s isentropic compression tunnel. The aforementioned tunnel has a longer flow rate, and different activation characteristics to that of T-ADFA. An easy to modify mechanism was created to launch models vertically into the flow. The results of testing the launch mechanism were disappointing. The random behavior of the projectile cannot be predicted at present, and the launcher imparts too much roll, pitch and yaw to the projectile for it to be used in any form of testing at this point in time.