The Ohio State University Large-Area Reflected Shock Tunnel: Overview and Characterization

The Large Area Reflected Shock Tunnel at The Ohio State University Aerospace Research Center has been recommissioned and characterized to provide a large-scale university platform for experimental hypersonics research and testing. This paper documents the facility charac- teristics, operational envelopes, and flow quality. The facility features a 45-in diameter nozzle attached to a 9-ft diameter test cabin, enabling operation as a free jet. The current operational capability with air as a driver gas includes Mach numbers of 6, 7 and 8, with stagnation enthalpies up to approximately 2.2 MJ kg^−1 and unit Reynolds numbers ranging from 0.1 to 100 ×10^6 m^−1. The use of a helium driver extends the achievable enthalpy to approximately 7.8 MJ kg^−1 and permits operation to Mach 12+. LARS can be operated in either reflected shock or blowdown modes with typical run times of a few tens of ms and 150ms, respectively. Characterization measurements with a pitot-probe rake indicate mean flow uniformity of approximately 1% and freestream noise levels near 2% with spectral content that is consistent with other conventional hypersonic tunnels.