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This tunnel can reproduce the velocity and altitude conditions affecting a fighter aircraft.
It can even reach 14 times the speed of sound. Here in Belgium we can investigate what a
spacecraft undergoes on earth and even in space.
“A piston compresses the flow. For Mars conditions we use CO2. To simulate the return
to earth it is air. The special thing about this wind tunnel is that it works for a very
short time. We are talking about a fraction of a second, and during this period we can
actually take measurements of pressure, flow, forces and moments on models.”
At the von Karman Institute in Brussels researchers study certain scientific phenomena and their
aeronautics and aerospace applications. For example, they may consider the resistance
of an aircraft wing to velocity and heat. They put forward
“We serve the two areas, both the civil and military. We call this dual, so we study
physical models that are applicable both for the military and civil sides – high-speed
aircraft, air intakes, but also transport, re-entry, space applications.”
So the von Karman Institute is a concentration of grey cells working full out. It has existed
for 55 years, and is partly financed by the NATO nations.
The researchers base their work on results developed by computer, but above all they
use 50 advanced installations to validate the tests. An indispensable stage, making
it possible for example to send a rocket into space in full confidence...
This particular equipment is the plasmatron. It is the only one of its kind, and can generate
heat to reach 10,000 degrees Celsius.
“This is a plasma installation which simulates conditions on re-entry, the conditions at
very high speed approaching a planet, when you enter the planet’s atmosphere.”
“You re-enter the atmosphere at about 100 km altitude. You start to dive into the atmosphere
and then you are slowed down as the layers get denser. And as you slow things heat up.
There’s a shock wave in front and after the shock wave the air gets very hot.”
And to understand how a material reacts to such heat, the researchers place it inside
the installation.
A little further on, young scientists are studying the effects of the laser on the flows.
For, each year, the Institute hosts students from NATO countries who come to receive training
and do research. Sergio for example is Italian. He is 30, and
pursuing his turbine engineering thesis at the Institute. Like more than 50 other students
he is following courses given by the establishment. This working environment is good for his professional
development.
“I believe that working in this place is really rewarding because you have the opportunity
to perform the research at high level. At the same time you have the opportunity to
work with younger searchers but also with experts, professors who can lead your research
and I feel that I have the possibility to propose my ideas and experiment what I feel
can be an improvement to my research. I have the opportunity to access a high quality teaching
and working at the same time in an international environment with people from all NATO countries.”
So the aim is to cooperate, to share ideas and knowledge and advance research in the
field of fluid dynamics. This covers all phenomena bound up with the
forces of wind and water which can act on components.
Research which represents a real investment for the future.
Laetitia Chadenat for Natochannel in Brussels