Aerospace Engineering
Klebanoff-Saric Wind Tunnel [Map Marker 1]
The KSWT is a low-disturbance, closed-loop wind tunnel designed for boundary layer stability and transition experiments. This facility is mainly used to study laminar-turbulent boundary layer transition by means of flat-plate and swept-wing experiments. Measurement techniques used include hotwire anemometry, infrared thermography, and naphthalene flow visualization.
National Aerothermochemistry and Hypersonics Laboratory [Map Marker 2]
The mission of the National Aerothermochemistry and Hypersonics Laboratory (NAL) is to provide a venue for faculty, students, research associates and visiting scientists to improve our knowledge and control of non-equilibrium gaseous flows and their surface interactions. A defining feature of the NAL is the suite of national resource quality hypersonic facilities, instrumentation and numerical methods. The resulting facility has been supported by the AFOSR, AFRL, ARO, DoD, NASA, NSF, ONR and industry.
Oran W. Nicks Low Speed Wind Tunnel [Map Marker 3]
The LSWT is used extensively for undergraduate education, engineering research and commercial testing. Commercial tests range from one day to several months. Studies have been conducted on everything from bicycles with riders, golf clubs, light pole fixtures, and offshore oil platforms and drill ships to missiles, airplanes, and space re-entry vehicles.
Land, Air, and Space Robotics Lab [Map Marker 4]
The LASR Lab is a world-class robotics facility that makes use of innovative robotics to emulate relative 6 degree-of-freedom motion of aerospace vehicles. The indoor robotics arena is the centerpiece of the lab, offering 2000 square feet of flat floor for ground robots. Twelve foot ceilings give aerial vehicles plenty of room to maneuver. Black curtains, floors, walls, and ceiling simulate the outer space environment, where a single strong light source may provide illumination for realistic optical sensing experiments. A fabrication room and electronics workspace adjoin the main arena. The conference room and graduate student offices complete the package that this facility offers for any advanced robotics research program.
COMING SOON – Aerospace Laboratory for Lasers, ElectroMagnetics and Optics (ALLEMO) [Map Marker 5]
This is a new laboratory being built adjacent to the National Aerothermodynamics and Hypersonics Laboratory (NAL). Research conducted in it will focus on the development of new methods for the use of lasers and electromagnetic concepts for applications relevant to aerospace. These include new diagnostics for high-speed aerodynamics, long-range detection of trace hazardous gases and pollutants, plasma-based methods for flow control, guiding of electromagnetic and laser radiation, and advanced energy conversion methods. The laboratory and the state-of-the-art equipment to be contained within it are jointly funded through the Chancellor’s Research Initiative (CRI) and the Governors University Research Initiative (GURI).