The 8x6 SWT provides customers with a facility capable of testing large scale aeropropulsion hardware.

• In a continuous airstream at Mach Numbers from 0 to 0.1 and 0.25 to 2.0
• At varying Reynolds Numbers from 3.6 to 4.8x10⁶/ft and altitude conditions (ambient to 38,000 ft), depending on Mach Number
• In either aerodynamic (closed) or propulsion (open) cycle without exhaust scoops
• Employing high accuracy data systems to support steady and transient data acquisition
• Supported by a variety of systems including Schlieren, infrared imaging, sheet lasers, LDV, GH2 fuel, high-pressure air, and hydraulics
• 1-in. diameter perforations allow for either 3.1 or 6.2 percent porosity variation for test section boundary layer control

Characteristics and Performance

• Test section size: 8-ft high by 6-ft wide by 23.5-ft long
• Mach number range: 0 to 0.1 and 0.25 to 2.0
• Relative altitude: 1,000 to 35,000 ft
• Reynolds Number: 3.6 to 4.8x10⁶/ft
• Stagnation Pressure: 15.3 to 25 psia
• Temperature: 520 to 720°R
• Dynamic Pressure: 200 to 1,340 psf

Tunnel Support Systems

• Combustion Air: 40, 150 and 450-psig
• Service Air: 125 psig
• Combustion Air Heater: 15 pps at up to 750 °F
• Exhaust: 16-in. line at 20 and 26 in of Hg
• High-Pressure Air (2600 psig) Storage: 981,000 scf
• GH2 Fuel System: 1.0 pps at 2200 psig from
  70000 scf trailers
• Model Cooling

Model Support Systems

• Ceiling Strut Assembly: angle of attack range between
  -5.0 and 15.0°
• Transonic Sting Strut Assembly: Floor mounted with angle of attack range between 0 and 15.0°
• Supersonic Strut: Floor mounted with an angle of attack range between -5 and 20°; axial movement (manual)
• Wall Mount: Typical of halfspan models
• Jet Exit Rig: Ceiling mounted strut with hot gas capabilities for nozzle research

Model Data and Control System Capabilities

• Pressure Systems
  ESP is an off the shelf electronically scanned pressure system. The system consists of numerous 32 port, rack mounted modules from +/-2.5 PSID to +500 PSID, located outside the test chamber. Each module has a check pressure to assure the module is performing correctly and can be calibrated in place using up to 5 highly accurate calibration pressures to maintain the overall system accuracy of +/-0.05% of range. This calibration is performed every 2 hours.
  For the 8x6, the following ranges are typically provided:
  • 384 ports +/- 15 PSID Barometric Ref
    
    
• Data System - Escort
  Escort, the steady state data acquisition system, uses a DEC Alpha microprocessor to provide:
  • An X window based system
  • Real time on-line acquisition of analog signals
  • Conversion of raw 10Hz filtered digitized Neff data to engineering units
  • Computed performance calculations, which can be displayed in a variety of tabular and graphical formats.
  • Limit checking on all selected channels
  • 1 second update rate
  
  Escort can stand alone to meet all secure test requirements or it can be connected to a central processing cluster, which facilitates software application development, downloading of software, uploading and storage of facility tables, post processing of data and transmitting of data to a data collector for archival storage.
  For the 8x6, Escort provides the following:
  • Accuracy for the Neff 400 is +/- 0.05% of range
  • Off-site access to data
  • 240 channels of which 220 are available for the test article
  • 48 temperatures from type J
  • 48 temperatures from type T
  • 48 temperatures from type E
    

• Dynamic Data System
  The transient data system provides multi-channel high speed digitized acquisition of rapidly changing cyclic on non-periodic impulse type events. The system consists of:
  • A front end Precision Filter amplifiers with elliptical (132 dB/oct) or linear phase (46 dB/oct) anti aliasing filters (132 dB per octave)
  • Off loading the data by FTPing, in near real time, to either our computer or yours for post processing
  • 16 Bit A/D per channel
  • Throughput of 40 million samples per second

• Flow Visualization
  
  • Pressure sensitive paint
  • Conventional Schlerien systems
  • Sheet laser
  • Oil flow visualization
  • High speed video - up to 1000 full screen frames/s

• Test Article Controls
  
  • Digital model control system with graphical interface
  • Automated test article sequencing system

• Remote Access Control Room
  
  • Real-time remote access to all data
  • Video conferencing in real time
  • Workstations supplied for remote site
  • Secure network connections provided