A Different Type of Wind Application for Aerospace Research

Two accumulator tubes of more than 80 meters in length run over an open space next to the building and pass through the solid outer wall to the inside: The enormous dimensions of the research facility become clear as soon as you enter the site around the Institute of Aerodynamics and Flow Technology at the DLR in Göttingen. Inside, a giant vacuum vessel with a volume of 50 m³ is connected to the tubes. Detailed and fundamental studies are carried out there to investigate the fluid mechanics phenomena that are essential for adequately predicting the performance of supersonic aircraft. How can the aerospace vehicles of tomorrow become more environmentally friendly, safer and more efficient? And how can you use precise computer simulation of supersonic flight to evaluate new configurations while still in the design process? The scientists want to provide answers to these questions, and many others, with the tube wind tunnel. Vacuum technology from Busch is an indispensable part of these research projects.

The large-scale research facility was opened in the 1950s. Göttingen-based physicist and flow researcher Prof. Hubert Ludwieg developed a revolutionary drive system for intermittently operating high-speed wind tunnels, which enabled studies with supersonic and hypersonic flows to be carried out. He called this principle a tube wind tunnel – which to this day is also known around the world as a “Ludwieg tube.” In 1968, the Ludwieg Tube Wind Tunnel, Göttingen (RWG) was the first of these large-scale aerodynamic research plants in the world to be put into operation. It is still in use at the DLR to this day.