The world's largest hypersonic test tube has been launched in southwest China, reports the South China Morning Post.
China claims that the state-of-the-art facility,Developed with input from Australian scientists, it will help with a number of missions, including sending Chinese astronauts to the moon and developing a hypersonic aircraft that can travel anywhere in the world in just an hour.
The device is a Stalker pipe:tunnel with a free piston, the design of which was first developed by the Australian scientist Raymond Stalker. The test tube is about twice as large as similar facilities in Western countries, the developers said. Its diameter is 80 cm. And the piston, which weighs 840 kg, is the heaviest of all used in wind tunnels.
Hypersonic tube. Photo: Hypervelocity Aerodynamics Institute, China Aerodynamics Research and Development Center
traditional wind tunnels,designed for hypersonic testing, simulate extreme conditions using hot hydrogen gas. But this approach is quite expensive. Piston tunnels are a cheap but effective alternative.
The developers say that the new pipe has passeda lot of preliminary tests while the piston design was not affected in any way. This has been achieved through the use of new technologies and materials.
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