Aerodynamics Research Center

The Aerodynamics Research Center has existed at the university in one form or another since the 1930s, when it was originally an aircraft maintenance and fabrication facility. The present ARC is home to the nation’s only university-based arc-heated, hypersonic wind tunnel, which features a femtosecond laser system. The center also boasts low-speed, transonic and supersonic wind tunnels, a hypersonic shock tunnel and detonation rigs. Advanced laser-based diagnostics includes stereoscopic particle image velocimetry, femtosecond laser electronic excitation tagging, femtosecond two-photon absorption laser induced fluorescence, and filtered Rayleigh scattering.

Current research has focused on experimental high-speed and high-temperature aerodynamics, shock/boundary layer interaction, and detonation. In addition to the experimental facilities, the Center has extensive capabilities to study and test aerodynamic models using computational fluid dynamics. The experimental test results can be used to validate CFD models, and vice-versa. Clients and sponsors include both corporate and government organizations.