In the last few years, the aerospace industry has grown exponentially for both military and civil applications. This book explores the systems engineering, production processes and performance issues which happen constantly during solid rockets operations and flight. It also discusses state of the art experiments and techniques, as well as many recent developments. The book will appeal to rocket scientists, students and lecturers, senior scientists and professors.

This book summarizes the main results reached using the EC-funded network PivNet 2. It also presents a survey of the state of the art of scientific research using PIV techniques. You get a clear introduction to the basics of these techniques. The authors then guide you through current and possible future applications for flow analysis, including combustion and supersonic flow. Hundreds of illustrations, many in full color, are provided.

Luminescent molecule sensors, called pressure-sensitive paint (PSP) and temperature-sensitive paint (TSP), measure factors essential for understanding the aerodynamic performance and heat transfer characteristics of flight vehicles. They provide a powerful tool for experimental aerodynamicists to obtain a deeper understanding of the rich physical phenomena in complex flows around a flight vehicle. This book helps the reader to understand the physics and chemistry and the capabilities of PSP and TSP. It provides an overview of the wide scope of applications and explains the system requirements for using these sensors. The book also includes an extensive table of properties of PTP and TSP. As such, it is a thorough and up-to-date coverage of the underlying physics and applications of luminescent molecules designed for global pressure and temperature mapping