Glenn Research Center - Acoustics Branch 9' x 15' Low Speed Wind Tunnel

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To learn more about the capabilities of the 9' x 15' Low Speed Wind Tunnel and to find out if it can be used for your test, please, contact:

Dale Van Zante

or see the
+ 9' x 15' Low Speed Wind
Tunnel Homepage

Testing Facilities

9' X 15' LOW SPEED WIND TUNNEL

Low Speed Wind Tunnel

Testing counter-rotating propellers is a special capability of the NASA Glenn 9’ x 15’ Low Speed Wind Tunnel. The counter-rotating test rig enables the upstream propeller to spin in one direction, while the downstream propeller spins in the opposite direction.

Listening to open rotors

With the price of fuel climbing, aircraft engine manufacturers are searching for ways to drastically improve fuel efficiency. Engines using open rotors, specialized high-speed propellers, may be a solution. At least one big challenge remains. Engineers need to find ways to get open rotors to operate quietly. NASA Glenn is partnering with General Electric in experiments that explore ways to reduce noise generated by open rotors without sacrificing propulsive efficiency. Aerodynamic and acoustic performance of open rotor models is being measured in the NASA Glenn 9’ x 15'’ Low Speed Wind Tunnel.

TESTING FACILITIES

+ Aero-Acoustic Propulsion Lab
+ Small Hot Jet Acoustic
Test Rig
+ Nozzle Acoustic Test Rig
+ Advanced Noise Control
Fan Rig
– 9’x15’ Low Speed Wind Tunnel
+ Acoustical Testing Laboratory

SPECIAL INSTRUMENTATION

+ Particle Image Velocimetry
+ Rotating Microphone Rake
+ Linear Microphone Array
+ Phased Array Microphones
+ Rayleigh Scattering
+ Hotwire, Hotfilm, and Laser Doppler Velocimetry

EXPERIMENTS

Read more about other 9' x 15' Low Speed Wind Tunnel Experiments

+ Vane sweep and lean
+ Rotor Alone
+ Soft Vane

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NASA Official: E. Brian Fite

Last Updated: June 16, 2011

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