AEDC Hypervelocity Wind Tunnel 9 hits 4,000-run mark

  • Published
  • By Deidre Ortiz
  • AEDC/PA
ARNOLD AIR FORCE BASE, TENN. --  One of AEDC's world-unique test facilities has achieved an important milestone.

The staff at Hypervelocity Wind Tunnel 9 in White Oak, Md., celebrated the successful completion of 4,000 test runs. The milestone occurred Jan. 15 as the Tunnel 9 team was testing the U.S. Air Force Conventional Strike Missile (CSM), which is part of a multi-service technology maturation program for Conventional Prompt Global Strike (CPGS).

With 35 years of experience at White Oak, Tunnel 9 Chief Engineer Jeff Waldo was elected to perform the ceremonial countdown and push the blow button.

Dan Marren, AEDC White Oak site director, stated CSM is the largest test program that's been at Tunnel 9 since it came under the direction of the U.S. Air Force in 1997 and the last of the CPGS test program.

"Altogether we will have completed more than 300 runs for this campaign," he said.

Tunnel 9 is classified as a blow-down hypersonic wind tunnel, meaning it doesn't operate continuously like many of the large engine and wind tunnel facilities at AEDC.

Joe Norris, Tunnel 9 project engineer, stated, "While each run only lasts a few seconds, the facility requires about four hours of preparation per run due to the high pressure and temperature necessary to achieve our high Mach and Reynolds numbers. Typical operations allow for a maximum of two runs per day. Interestingly, only about 80 minutes of data has been collected in the 41-year-old facility because of the relatively short run duration, but the positive impact of those 80 minutes has been noteworthy to both acquisition and technology programs for years."

Marren noted that Tunnel 9 has played a role in many important test programs over the years for the Air Force, DARPA, NASA, U.S. Navy and the Missile Defense Agency.

Tunnel 9 came online in 1973 and initial runs were performed to ensure the facility was customer-ready. However, the first-ever customer test occurred in 1976 in support of an Air Force system. At that time the tunnel was being operated by the U.S. Navy as part of the Naval Ordnance Laboratory.

Less than 10 years after its first test in December 1984, the wind tunnel reached 1,000 runs during a Navy Strategic System Programs Office (SSPO) Strategic Reentry Systems test.

In September 1989, run number 2,000 was achieved while completing a Missile Defense test. By March 2006, Tunnel 9 hit the 3,000 run mark performing a test for Orbital Sciences.

Early on, Tunnel 9 completed an average of 100 runs per year, hitting a record number of 281 runs in 1985 alone. The Tunnel 9 team has since made several advancements in various technologies that enabled tests to be more efficient by requiring fewer runs, saving test customers time and money while simultaneously providing more high quality data.

Norris said Tunnel 9 test programs focus primarily on hypersonic military missions such as land- and sea-based ballistic missiles, various missile defense platforms and prompt global strike missions.

"In addition to conducting fundamental science and technology test programs, Tunnel 9 has also tested a variety of civilian hypersonic vehicles such as the space shuttle, Mars lander and the Orion capsule that was recently launched by NASA," he said. "The demand for testing in Tunnel 9 continues to be as high as it has ever been with multiple customer tests planned through Fiscal Year 2016 and beyond."

The addition of the Hypervelocity Wind Tunnel 9 to the AEDC hypersonic test enterprise continues to pay dividends as testing in the von Karmen Gas Dynamics Facility (VKF), Arcs, S and G-Ranges and Aerodynamic and Propulsion Test Unit (APTU) combine to solve some of the nation's greatest physics challenges regarding realizing operational hypersonic systems.