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Aeronautical Facilities Assessing the National Plan for Aeronautical Ground Test Facilities (1994) / Chapter Skim
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3 Supersonic Facilities
Pages 27-30

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From page 27...
... A high speed civil transport, because of its larger size, will have a higher Reynolds number requirement. Nonetheless, NASA's High Speed Civil Transport Program plans to develop a first generation aircraft by using a combination of ground testing at existing facilities (primarily the 16S supersonic tunnel at Arnold Engineering Development Center)
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From page 28...
... It focused on facilities with flight-like Reynolds numbers and Mach numbers in the range of 2.0 to 5.0. The study noted that the primary users of supersonic test facilities have been the Department of Defense and military aircraft manufacturers, although NASA's High Speed Civil Transport Program, if successful, will generate a need for the civil aircraft industry to conduct extensive supersonic testing of large aircraft with cruise speeds between Mach numbers 2.0 and 2.4.
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From page 29...
... A 16T compressor failure once took that facility out of service for four years, and a 16S compressor failure took nearly six years to repair. Arnold Engineering Development Center, however, has greatly reduced the expected severity of future compressor failures by replacing steel compressor rotor blades with plastic blades, and motor upgrades now seem to be more urgent than compressor improvements (Laster, 19941.
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From page 30...
... Shortfalls exist in productivity, reliability, maintainability, and laminar flow test capabilities. Recommendation 3-~: The Aeronautics and Space Engineering Board recommends upgrading the 165 facility at Arnold Engineering Development Center to include continued improvements in the 16S/16T motor drive and compressor systems.
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Key Terms

  • arnold engineering
  • laminar flow
  • civil transport
  • speed civil
  • wind tunnel

  • ground test
  • supersonic wind
  • wind tunnels
  • test facilities
  • supersonic laminar

  • tunnel facilities
  • supersonic ground
  • test facility
  • transport program
  • ground testing

  • supersonic testing
  • facility requirements
  • flow testing
  • flow technology
  • aerospace ground

  • aeronautical wind
  • boundary layers
  • future aerospace
  • supersonic test
  • supersonic aircraft

  • major wind
  • turbulent boundary
  • aeronautical ground
  • military aircraft
  • flow control


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