New Wind Tunnel Makes UA a Major Hypersonics Player

Scientists worldwide are racing to perfect hypersonic vehicles, which can travel at many times the speed of sound, for military and civilian use.

The UA Department of Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering is in the final stages of installing two high-speed wind tunnels to help researchers – and companies like Raytheon – solve the unique challenges of flying something at hypersonic speed.

Housed on the third floor of the AME building, the Boundary-Layer Stability and Transition Laboratory features a new hypersonic wind tunnel capable of testing at air speeds of up to Mach 5 – five times the speed of sound, or about 3,800 miles per hour.

Sharing a parallel space and some common equipment in the lab is a smaller, Mach 4 tunnel.

AME faculty researching hypersonics include assistant professor Stuart "Alex" Craig, professor Hermann F. Fasel, associate professor Jesse Little and professor Anatoli Tumin.