Hypersonic Research in the High-Enthalpy Shock Tunnel Göttingen

Abstract

The High-Enthalpy Shock Tunnel Gottingen, HEG, is a free piston-driven shock tunnel, which was developed and constructed from 1989 to 1991. In a free piston-driven shock tunnel, the conventional driver of a shock tunnel is replaced by a free piston driver. This concept was proposed by Prof. Ray Stalker and, therefore, the tunnels are also referred to as Stalker tubes. HEG was commissioned for use in 1991, at that time being the largest facility of its type worldwide. Since then it was extensively used in a large number of national and international space and hypersonic flight projects. The research activities which were always strongly linked with CFD investigations range from the calibration process of the facility and the study of basic aerodynamic configurations, which are well suited to investigate fundamental aspects of high-enthalpy flows, to the investigation of complex entry, reentry, hypersonic flight, and integrated scramjet configurations. In the present article, an overview of selected research projects conducted in HEG is given.