CHARACTERIZATION OF A "MINI-PLASMATRON" FACILITY BY PITOT PROBE MEASUREMENTS

The VKI Minitorch is used as a facility to test and to develop measurement techniques for plasma flows, to be applied to the VKI Plasmatron. The behavior of a cooled Pitot probe in the Minitorch plasma jet is briefly examined. The influence of the geometrical configuration of the gas injection in the Minitorch and of the peripheral and central mass flow rates on the plasma flow are determined, by comparison of the dynamic pressure profiles of the plasma jet measured in each condition.