When
Thursday, October 15, 2026, at 4:00 p.m.
Stefan Wernz
Senior Principal Engineer
Flight Sciences Department
Raytheon
"Joint Raytheon/University of Arizona Research for High-Speed Flight Systems"
AME S212 | Zoom link
Abstract: The presentation provides a narrative for the string of collaborative research projects related to high-speed flight systems that have been carried out between Raytheon and researchers from the Department of Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering over the past decade. The collaboration started in 2014 with professor Fasel's group focused on computational research on transition to turbulence in hypersonic flows. It was then expanded some years later by experiments in the small Arizona Supersonic Indraft Wind Tunnel geared towards sensor testing and shock-boundary layer interaction. Teaming of the AME Department with advocates from Raytheon led to the acquisition of new high-speed tunnels in the early 2020s, the Arizona Polysonic Wind Tunnel and the Mach 4 and Mach 5 Ludwieg tubes. The ever-increasing test capabilities of these tunnels have since been utilized for several Raytheon internal research and development projects. AME and Raytheon have also teamed up on two projects funded by the University Consortium for Applied Hypersonics (UCAH). Selective results from the research and the resulting publications will be discussed as well as potential future opportunities for collaboration.
Bio: Stefan Wernz is a senior principal engineer in the Flight Sciences Department at Raytheon in Tucson, Arizona. He joined Raytheon in 2007 after receiving his doctoral degree from the Department of Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering of the University of Arizona and six years as a post-doctoral research associate under his PhD advisor, professor Hermann Fasel. At Raytheon, Wernz has made many contributions as a computational fluid dynamics (CFD) expert to a wide range of products. Over the past decade he has been increasingly involved with Raytheon IRAD programs in hypersonics and has developed and supervised university research projects with the University of Arizona and Purdue University bringing to bear his expertise in boundary-layer transition to turbulence. Wernz is the principal investigator of a Raytheon long-term IRAD on the analysis and design of hypersonic subsystems. He is also an industry member of the University Consortium for Applied Hypersonics (UCAH) and is the technical activities director for the Tucson chapter of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA).