The T4 Stalker Tube

Mee, D. J.; Morgan, Richard G.; Paull, A.; Jacobs, Peter A.; Smart, Michael K.

doi:10.1007/978-3-319-44866-4_110

Cited by 4 publications

(5 citation statements)

References 10 publications

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“…There are many high enthalpy shock tunnels in the world, such as T4 [12], T5 [13], HIEST [14], HEG [15], LENS I [16], T6 [17], JF-10 [18], and FD-21 [19]. The high enthalpy nozzles of these tunnels can be divided into two categories: contour nozzles and conical nozzles.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

High Enthalpy Non-Equilibrium Expansion Effects in Turbulent Flow of the Conical Nozzle

et al. 2023

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High enthalpy stagnation gas can be converted into hypervelocity flow through the contraction—expansion nozzle. The enthalpy flow in the nozzle can be divided into three regions: an equilibrium region, a non-equilibrium region, and a frozen region. The stagnation gas with a total enthalpy of 13.4 MJ/kg is used to analyze the thermochemical non-equilibrium effects. At the selected conditions, the effects of a conical nozzle under different expansion angles of the expansion section, curvature radius of the throat, throat radius, and convergence angle of the convergent section are investigated. Based on the Spalart–Allmaras one-equation turbulence model with the Catris–Aupiox compressibility correction, a multi-block solver for axisymmetric compressible Navier–Stokes equations is applied to simulate the thermochemical non-equilibrium flow in several high enthalpy conical nozzles. The multi-species two-temperature equation is employed in the calculation. The results reveal three interesting characteristics: Firstly, the thermochemical non-equilibrium effects are sensitive to the maximum expansion angle and throat radius but not to the radius of throat curvature and contraction angle. Secondly, as the maximum expansion angle decreases and the throat radius increases, the flow approaches equilibrium state. When the maximum expansion angle decreases from 12° to 4°, the freezing temperature decreases from 2623 K to 2018 K. When the throat diameter increased from 10 mm to 30 mm, the freezing temperature decreased from 2442 K to 2140 K. Finally, the maximum expansion angle and throat radius not only affect the position of the freezing point but also the flow field parameters, such as temperature, Mach number, and species mass fraction.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

High Enthalpy Non-Equilibrium Expansion Effects in Turbulent Flow of the Conical Nozzle

et al. 2023

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“…The T4 Stalker Tube, named after its inventor Professor Ray Stalker, is "an impulse flow facility", and more precisely "a free-piston driven reflected shock tunnel". This tunnel has been in operation, at the University of Queensland, since 1987 and is capable of reproducing hypersonic conditions for scramjet operations (Mee, Morgan, Paul, Jacobs, & Smart, 2017). To this extent, it generates important stagnation pressures that can reach 90MPa.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The threshold of pain being established for a pressure of 100Mpa and explosion risks involved by such pressures represent some security issues for the use and the design of every part of the tube. There are 6 main sections that compose the tunnel: "a high-pressure annular reservoir, a compression tube, a shock tube, an expansion nozzle, a test section, and a dump tank" which represent a global structure of about 44m long (Mee, Morgan, Paul, Jacobs, & Smart, 2017). (Mee, Morgan, Paul, Jacobs, & Smart, 2017) However, designed in 1987, the T4 test section has many defects that prevent certain tests from being carried out with sufficient efficiency.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…There are 6 main sections that compose the tunnel: "a high-pressure annular reservoir, a compression tube, a shock tube, an expansion nozzle, a test section, and a dump tank" which represent a global structure of about 44m long (Mee, Morgan, Paul, Jacobs, & Smart, 2017). (Mee, Morgan, Paul, Jacobs, & Smart, 2017) However, designed in 1987, the T4 test section has many defects that prevent certain tests from being carried out with sufficient efficiency. The T4 test section will be exposed to extreme experimental conditions, including specific gases and high pressures and temperatures that will have to be considered for its design.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The T4 test section will be exposed to extreme experimental conditions, including specific gases and high pressures and temperatures that will have to be considered for its design. The section should also be able to receive models with different shapes and sizes, and connect to external elements such as a fuel injection system or pressure transducers (Mee, Morgan, Paul, Jacobs, & Smart, 2017). (Chandler, 2015) If the first wind tunnels were composed of a simple horizontal tube with fans at one end, only able to produce unsteady flow with poor quality results, engineers have made significant progress and these systems can now be very complex and accurate.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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UQ eSpace

Dewaele¹

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The T4 Stalker Tube is "a free-piston driven reflected shock tunnel" used to run hypersonic tests at the University of Queensland. This tunnel is composed of 6 main sections including a test section used to settle and observe studied models, and collect experimental data. In 2019 a budget has been allocated to the team in charge of the T4 to build a new test section. Optical access of the current test section needs to be improved in particular to ease optical tests. This paper presents ideas of an improved design of the test section. It will focus on four main goals : improve its overall shape, optimize its optical access, maintain good physical access and improve its instrumentation handling.

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