Stalker Tube Activities in India

摘要

In the early 1990s India undertook a major policy decision to develop advanced hypersonic vehicle technology to meet the defense and space program needs. While these changes were taking place at the national level the Indian academic community in the aerospace engineering field were introducing relevant courses and laboratory facilities to meet the future demands from these programs. While adequate low-speed test and research facilities were available in the country the hypersonic facilities were found to be inadequate and no wind tunnel was capable of simulating the high enthalpy flows. Importance of these tunnels was recognized for the generation of validation data for CFD codes as well as for design purpose. After this period many conventional hypersonic shock tunnels were built including the series HST2, HST4, and HST5 in our laboratory. Basic calculations for building a moderate-size free piston-driven shock tunnel were carried out and presented in the fourth International Workshop on Shock Tube Technology at University of Queensland, Brisbane, in Sept. 1994 [1]. Prof. Ray Stalker confirmed that all the calculations and sizing of the proposed tunnel were correct and advised us to build the tunnel based on these calculations. Accordingly work on HST3 was started in 1997 and completed in 2003.