UTA Aerodynamics Research Center - History

History

The development of the ARC began in 1975 as an effort to develop a shock tube for experimental research in magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) power generation. At the same time, the engineering accreditation board recommended that the Aerospace Engineering Department (which has since merged back into the Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering) should have a high speed wind tunnel capability. An arc heater was shipped to UTA but was put in storage because of a lack of funds to acquire the support equipment necessary for its operation. In 1976, two professors visited both the AEDC and NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, to view their transonic Ludwieg tube facilities. The idea was the build a smaller version of the wind tunnel at UTA, but when the AEDC facility was toured it was found that its Ludwieg tube had recently been decommissioned. The Ludwieg tube had been developed as a prototype for the Air Force concept for the National Transonic Facility Development Program, but the decision had recently been made to build the NTF at the NASA Langley Research Center using their cryogenic tunnel concept. The professors jokingly told the AEDC project manager to consider donating the tube to UTA, which was taken as a serious offer. The Ludwieg tube was declared government surplus and donated to UTA, showing up at the rail head in Arlington, Texas on three flat bed cars.

Possession of the Ludwieg tube facility attracted lucrative grants, which became a logistical problem because UTA was then involved in a major building program that included the renovation of an engineering building that the tunnel was scheduled to go into. This would have meant a period of several years of storage and hundreds of thousands of dollars of lost grants. The solution to this problem was the construction of a temporary facility on the first floor of a newly built engineering building. This facility happened to be located underneath the office of the Dean of the College of Engineering, who promptly changed the temporary facility to a permanent building upon hearing how loud the Luwieg tube was. Once the concept of a permanent building was proposed, several new wind tunnels and equipment were added. In 1985, a large compressor located at NASA Ames Research Center became available and was donated to UTA. This 5-stage Clark compressor was rated at 3000 psi, 2000 cfm, and was driven by a 1250 hp motor. The total power consumption during full load operation is over 1.6 MW. Moving the compressor to a new building with its associated equipment cost nearly $500,000.00. The entire building was built around the compressor in 1986, and continued development has occurred since that time which includes the construction of supersonic and hypersonic facilities.