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EngineeringCentre
for Hypersonics
Facilities |
Experimental facilities:
T4 is a 45 m long free piston driven facility, capable of simulating flows
up to 6 km/s (21000 km/hr). Developed specifically for scramjet testing
in 1987, it has proven to be a versatile test bed for a wide range of suborbital
aerodynamic projects. It was the large scale prototype on which several
major facilities around the world have been based. It was upgraded
with a new driver in 2000 and is the test facility in which the world’s
first scramjet producing more thrust than drag was tested.
The X-series expansion tubes combine the free piston driver technique with
the expansion tube concept of cascading shock tunnels to achieve superorbital
velocities. The primary purpose of these facilities is to create the high
speeds encountered by interplanetary reentry vehicles during aero braking.
This is a field where design uncertainty factors of 450% are encountered,
and experimental data is sparse. Flight up to simulated speeds of 14.5
km/s (52000 km/hr) have been achieved. Appropriate mixtures of test gas
are used to simulate the atmospheres of various planets and moons. These
facilities have also been shown to be useful for scramjet testing at lower
speeds, due to their very high total pressure simulation capability.
The X3 expansion tube
This is a small shock tunnel with a fixed driver in which initiation of
a shot is made by piercing the primary diaphragm. It is presently being
used to investigate contoured nozzle design for larger facilities. The
test section has good optical access with four 100 mm diameter quartz windows.
This is a small supersonic blowdown wind tunnel which is equipped currently
with Mach 3 nozzles. It also has a set of asymmetric sliding nozzle blocks
for Mach numbers in the range 1.5 - 3.5.
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CENTRE FOR HYPERSONICS
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