The NASA Langley 0.3-m Transonic Cryogenic Tunnel was modified in 1994, to operate with any one of the three test gas media viz., air, cryogenic nitrogen gas, or sulfur hexafluoride gas. This document provides the initial test results with respect to the tunnel performance and tunnel control, as a part of the commissioning activities on the microcomputer based controller. The tunnel can provide precise and stable control of temperature to less than or equal to +/- 0.3 K in the range 80-320 K in cyro mode or 300-320 K in air/SF6 mode, pressure to +/- 0.01 psia in the range 15-88 psia and Mach number to +/- O.0015 in the range 0.150 to transonic Mach numbers up to 1.000. A new heat exchanger has been included in the tunnel circuit and is performing adequately. The tunnel airfoil testing benefits considerably by precise control of tunnel states and helps in generating high quality aerodynamic test data from the 0.3-m TCT.
Performance of the 0.3-Meter Transonic Cryogenic Tunnel with Air, Nitrogen, and Sulfur Hexafluoride Media under Closed Loop Automatic Control
1995
35 pages
Report
No indication
English
Test Facilities & Equipment , Fluid Mechanics , Automatic control , Feedback control , Liquid nitrogen , Performance tests , Sulfur hexafluoride , Transonic wind tunnels , Wind tunnel tests , Mach number , Aerodynamic characteristics , Cryogenics , Energy dissipation , Heat exchangers , High reynolds number , Pressure distribution , Temperature distribution