Calibration of an Actively Controlled Expansion Hypersonic Wind Tunnel

Abstract

** In this paper, we report on the status of the Actively Controlled Expansion (ACE) hypersonic wind tunnel facility, which is under development at Texas A&M University. The tunnel was designed to provide continuously variable hypersonic flow conditions over a Mach number range of 5.0 to 8.0. The facility operates in a pressure-vacuum blow-down mode, and the run time is nominally 50 seconds. The nozzle system was designed such that the Mach number can be actively controlled as the tunnel is running. The estimated response time of the flow is on the order of 2.0 milliseconds. The cross-sectional area of the test section is 9.0 inch x 14.0 inch. In this paper, we describe the design, calibration and current status of the facility development.