Early response of ablative materials to arcjet testing

The initial temperature response of phenolic injected carbon ablators (PICA) under arcjet test conditions is modeled by implementing heat conduction, radiation, and pyrolysis using publicly available material properties. Prior to significant pyrolization occurring, good agreement is found between experimental results and model results. Key processes during the initial temperature response are found to be heat conduction and radiation. The modeling approach proposed in this work is novel and can be combined easily with a statistical framework that implements Bayesian inference of material thermal properties and stagnation heat flux from multiple thermocouple data. Refined model results are intended for use in inference of material properties through comparison to experimental data.