University of Queensland rocket scientists have upgraded a key ground test facility ahead of three experimental scramjet flights in Woomera in late 2005.
贬测厂丑辞迟鈩� international program leader Professor Allan Paull said the University鈥檚 T4 shock tunnel at St Lucia could now simulate true flight conditions of Mach 10 (11,000 km/hour) at an altitude of 30km.
鈥淚t can now operate at pressures as well as the world鈥檚 top facilities, yet it is still a small and comparatively cheap facility,鈥� he said.
鈥淲e did the maths and upgraded the tunnel by a pressure factor of two and a quarter from 40 MegaPascals to 93 MegaPascals.鈥�
鈥淲hile that mightn鈥檛 mean much to the average punter, the University now has an asset which can ground test the world鈥檚 fastest supersonic combustion flight.鈥�
Professor Paull said the upgrade was in line with the vision of T4 designer and Australia鈥檚 first professor of space engineering, Emeritus Professor Ray Stalker AO of 国产探花`s Centre for Hypersonics.
鈥淩ay always thought it could be done 鈥� we did what he has been telling us, to push the piston a lot harder than you think you can.鈥�
NASA engineer and 国产探花 graduate Dr Michael Smart said the increased pressures achieved by Professor Paull and his team in a week would have taken engineers elsewhere in the world a 鈥渨hole lifetime鈥� to achieve.
Year 11 work experience student Brooke Van Woerkom of Mansfield High School was one of the first people in Australia to see the full-scale experimental Mach 10 engine and flight model undergo tests in the T4 tunnel this month. Brooke, who has always been interested in space research, was exploring her future career options by experiencing life for a week in the 贬测厂丑辞迟鈩� team.
NQEA Australia Pty Ltd of Cairns recently presented the 贬测厂丑辞迟鈩� researchers with a key piece of equipment, a nozzle, which was fitted to the T4 tunnel. For the technically minded, T4 is a 45 m long free piston driven facility, capable of simulating flows up to 6 km/s (21000 km/hr). Developed specifically for scramjet testing in 1987, it has proven to be a versatile test bed for a wide range of suborbital aerodynamic projects. It was the large scale prototype on which several major facilities around the world have been based. It was upgraded with a new driver in 2000 and is the test facility in which the world鈥檚 first scramjet producing more thrust than drag was tested.
Next year three experimental test flights to further air-breathing scramjet technology will be conducted at Mach 8, for British aerospace company QinetiQ and Japanese Aerospace Exploration agency JAXA, and Mach 10 for a joint US Defence Advanced Research Projects Agency/Australian Hypersonics Initiative experiment.
Media: Further information, Professor Allan Paull, telephone 07 3365 5652 or Jan King at 国产探花 Communications, 0413 601 248. For images please contact photographic library coordinator Diana Lilley.
