University of Texas at Arlington Aerodynamics Research Center

The 1.6 MW Arc Jet Wind Tunnel is used to produce supersonic streams of extremely hot gas. The high enthalpy, long duration capability of this facility complements the capabilities of the other facilities at the ARC. The gas flowing through the arc jet is heated by a powerful electric arc to produce a gas stream with bulk temperatures ranging from 3000 to 5000 K. The facility is based on a Thermal Dynamics F-5000 arc heater, donated from the USAF Arnold Engineering Development Center, which is powered by a Halmar 1.6 MW DC power supply. In addition, the facility also consists of a nitrogen injection system, a water cooling system, a vacuum system, a probe traverse system and a facility monitoring and protection system.

The UT Arlington hypersonic shock tunnel has an operational Mach number range of about 4 to 16. The value of Re/L ranges from as low as 100 up to 50 million per meter. The run time varies between 0.5 and 5.0 milliseconds. The pictures below show the original assembly. The facility is very versatile, and the individual tube sections often serve as drivers for other shock and detonation experiments.