@article{Zhang2026, 
author = {Zhi Zhang and Dongbin Ou and He Gao and Xianxiang Yan},
title = {Dynamic ablation morphology measurement of thermal protection materials using structured light vision},
year = {2026},
journal = {Acta Aerodynamica Sinica},
volume = {44},
number = {4},
pages = {125-133},
keywords = {dynamic ablation morphology, thermal protection materials, structured light vision, arc-jet wind tunnel, high temperature measurement},
url = {https://www.sciopen.com/article/10.7638/kqdlxxb-2024.0118},
doi = {10.7638/kqdlxxb-2024.0118},
abstract = {Measuring the dynamic ablation process of thermal protection materials is critical for designing and predicting the performance of thermal protection systems. However, acquiring data on this process in arc-jet wind tunnels is challenging due to the extremely high temperature and intense brightness. In this paper, a novel optical measurement method leveraging structured light and binocular stereo-vision was proposed to capture the dynamic ablation morphology of thermal protection materials in aerodynamic thermal tests. This method utilized the active projection of short-wave multi-line structured light, combined with bandpass filtering, to obtain clear images. Binocular image matching was accomplished using depth-of-field and epipolar constraints. A measurement platform incorporating this methodology was constructed in an arc-jet wind tunnel. Room-temperature accuracy tests demonstrate the following results: An approximate interval of 1.1 mm between adjacent points in the shape point cloud, a standard deviation of plane point cloud fitting not exceeding 0.12 mm, a plane angle measurement error within 0.3°, a standard deviation of spherical point cloud fitting below 0.14 mm, and a relative deviation of diameter measurement less than 1%. High-temperature measurements were conducted on a spherical convex model made of fiberglass. Three-dimensional point cloud data of the model were acquired at interval of 8 seconds under maximum surface temperature of 1430 ℃, with the measurement time for a single point cloud being less than 1 second. The measurement accuracy at room temperature, point cloud density, dynamic velocity, and applicable temperature range demonstrate the effectiveness and potential of the proposed method in measuring the high-temperature dynamic ablation characteristics of thermal protection materials.}
}