Complicated shock wave patterns envelope vehicles traveling at supersonic and hypersonic speeds. A shock wave is essentially a very tiny region–only a few mean free path lengths wide–over which flow conditions, including density, pressure, velocity, and temperature, Keep reading
Tag: NASA Langley
Oil Flow Viz
Fluorescent oil sprayed onto a model in the NASA Langley 14 by 22-Foot Subsonic Wind Tunnel glows under ultraviolet light. Airflow over the model pulls the initially even coat of Keep reading
Supersonic Oil Flow Viz
This image shows oil-flow visualization of a cylindrical roughness element on a flat plate in supersonic flow. The flow direction is from left to right. In this technique, a thin layer Keep reading
Smoke Visualization on an F-16
Flow around an F-16XL Scamp model is visualized using smoke illuminated by laser sheets. Lasers are common equipment in fluids laboratories; they’re useful for flow visualization and for many velocimetry Keep reading
Langley’s Transonic Dynamics Tunnel
NASA Langley’s Transonic Dynamics Tunnel (TDT) recently celebrated 50 years of operation. It’s 16 x 16 ft test section has hosted models of many aircraft, including the Lockheed Electra, the Keep reading