The Future of Hypersonic Wind Tunnels, 37th AIAA Aerospace Sciences Meeting & Exhibit, January 11-14, 1999/Reno, NV

Abstract

Aerospace plays a key role in the United States' economy and national security. The recent Gulf War is a good example of the importance of aerospace systems. In the commercial sector, air travel continues to thrive. Aerospace technology and systems development capabilities existing in the United States today can be linked to the significant infrastructure investments between 1945 to 1975. These investments were made not only for subsonic and supersonic research and development, but also for a test and evaluation (T&E) infrastructure. This infrastructure consisted of wind tunnels, propulsion test cells, and trained personnel to operate them. These facilities have been crucial for reducing technical risk during the system development process. By identifying design problems early in the development cycle, huge costs for redesign or fixes have been avoided. Aerospace, no doubt, has played a significant role in the United States becoming a "Super Power. Aerospace systems development will continue to play a key role in the 21st century. The desire to get to a target quicker (global engagement) and take payloads into space cheaper is now driving us towards the need for hypersonic systems. These hypersonic systems, like the subsonic and supersonic systems of the present, will require wind tunnels and propulsion test facilities to reduce development risk. The technical and financial challenges in acquiring and sustaining future hypersonic T&E facilities are impacted by the current environment of downsizing, partnering, and privatizing. This paper will address the system requirements that are driving us towards hypersonic systems and the issues associated with building hypersonic wind tunnels or aeropropulsion T&E facilities suitable for system development.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Jan 14, 1999
Accession Number
ADA371006

Entities

People

  • Carlos Tirres

Organizations

  • American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Air Platforms
  • Space
  • Weapons Technologies

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Aircrafts
  • Combustion
  • Computational Fluid Dynamics
  • Heat Transfer
  • High Pressure
  • Hypersonic Aircraft
  • Hypersonic Missiles
  • Hypersonic Vehicles
  • Hypersonic Wind Tunnels
  • Mach Number
  • Propulsion Systems
  • Supersonic Combustion Ramjet Engines
  • Test And Evaluation
  • Test Facilities
  • United States
  • Weapon Systems
  • Wind Tunnels

Fields of Study

  • Physics

Readers

  • Aerospace Test and Evaluation
  • Economics
  • Fluid Dynamics.

Technology Areas

  • Hypersonics
  • Hypersonics - Hypersonic Flow
  • Space
  • Space - Hall-Effect Thruster