Posts Tagged ‘supersonic’
Mysteries of the Supersonic Investigated
Almost sixty-five years after Chuck Yeager broke the sound barrier, there’s still a lot we don’t know about supersonic aerodynamics, especially with transonic airflows. In designing supersonic aircraft, engineers often stick with what works in terms of airfoils and manufacturing specifications. With the development of stronger and lighter materials, however, it may be possible to create more innovative designs.
In order to test what might be possible, NASA’s Dryden Flight Research Center is conducting Supersonic Boundary Layer Transition (SBLT) tests in partnership with Aerion Corporation. Here’s the instrument pylon underneath a Dryden F-15B:
SBLT test pylon (Credit: NASA / Tony Landis)