Analyzing thermal state of the Buran orbital space vehicle structure in the areas of possible damages to its thermal protection elements

The paper considers main types of the thermal protection structures and their installation zones on the Buran orbital vehicle outer surfaces. Tiled thermal protection based on the lightweight fibrous quartz ceramics covers most of the space vehicle surface and provides unique thermal conductivity and low weight characteristics. Therefore, it will remain in future the basis in thermal protection systems for the aerospace vehicles developed in the USA, China, India and other countries. Possible overheating or melting of the protected structures due to damage or loss of the separate heat-protective tiles is a serious problem. Certain types of damage are considered, including partial tile chipping, its complete tearing off together with the felt substrate and the tile tearing off with maintaining the damping felt substrate made of the organic material on the vehicle body. To assess the thermal protection properties of a damaged felt substrate exposed to air plasma, experimental studies were conducted of its heating in the high-frequency induction plasmatron jet. The data obtained confirmed the substrate structural integrity after high-temperature heating and made it possible to calculate its effective thermal conductivity for subsequent use in the thermal calculations. Calculation of the Buran orbital vehicle structure heating in several zones with partial damage or complete separation of the separate thermal protection tiles made it possible to assess the permissible levels of damage to the tile thermal protection not leading to the metal hull skin melting.
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