Aeronautical and Astronautical Research Laboratory
Encyclopedia
The Aeronautical/Astronautical Research Laboratory (AARL) is an aerospace engineering
research facility operated by Ohio State University
. It is the principal research facility of the College of Engineering's Department of Aerospace and Astronautical Engineering. It is located on the grounds of Ohio State University Airport
, in Columbus, Ohio
.
The AARL houses four active wind tunnels (Dimensions of test section given in name):
Computers complement wind tunnel and all other experimentation at AARL. LabVIEW
is extensively used for experiment documentation and control, while FLUENT
and the Ohio Supercomputer Center
are used for computational fluid dynamics
experimentation.
The most prominent area of research at AARL is jet engine test cell design. Under the patronage of GE Aviation, Ohio State Engineering has been at the forefront of jet engine test cell design for over 25 years. To test jet engine test cell designs, scale models of the interior of the building proposed to hold the test cell, as well as the test cell itself are reconstructed at AARL. The models are incredibly detailed, going as far as to contain scale furniture. Any number of scale jet engines can then be placed in the model, including a 1/12 scale model of the GE90, the largest jet engine ever built.
The AARL houses numerous other research facilities, including the Mechanical Engineering Department's Gas Dynamics and Turbulence Laboratory(GDTL) and Gas Turbine Lab. GDTL works cooperatively with NASA Glenn Research Center and Wright-Patterson Air Force Base
researching aeroacoustics
and high reynolds number flow related to propulsion. The Gas Turbine Lab is an R&D laboratory that focuses on the development of gas turbine aircraft engines and has an annual budget of over $4 million.
Aerospace engineering
Aerospace engineering is the primary branch of engineering concerned with the design, construction and science of aircraft and spacecraft. It is divided into two major and overlapping branches: aeronautical engineering and astronautical engineering...
research facility operated by Ohio State University
Ohio State University
The Ohio State University, commonly referred to as Ohio State, is a public research university located in Columbus, Ohio. It was originally founded in 1870 as a land-grant university and is currently the third largest university campus in the United States...
. It is the principal research facility of the College of Engineering's Department of Aerospace and Astronautical Engineering. It is located on the grounds of Ohio State University Airport
Ohio State University Airport
Ohio State University Airport is a public airport located six miles northwest of the central business district of Columbus, a city in Franklin County, Ohio, United States. It is owned and operated by The Ohio State University in Columbus, not to be confused with Ohio University in Athens, which...
, in Columbus, Ohio
Columbus, Ohio
Columbus is the capital of and the largest city in the U.S. state of Ohio. The broader metropolitan area encompasses several counties and is the third largest in Ohio behind those of Cleveland and Cincinnati. Columbus is the third largest city in the American Midwest, and the fifteenth largest city...
.
Facilities
The research activities conducted at AARL are based around a compressed air system that is capable of holding 1500 cubic feet (42.5 m3) of air at 2560 psia (17.65MPa), a 2 MW on site DC power station , and vacuum system capable of holding suction at .15 psia (1.01 kPa).The AARL houses four active wind tunnels (Dimensions of test section given in name):
- -3'x5'(.9m x 1.5m)Subsonic Wind Tunnel, an open circuit, Eiffel wind tunnel with top speeds of 150 ft/s (45m/s)
- -6"x22" (15cm x 56cm) Transonic Windtunnel, a blowdown wind tunnel used specifically for airfoil research
- -6"x3" (15cm x 6cm) Transonic Wind Tunnel, a small wind tunnel used to research heat transfer in the high subsonic range
- -6" (15cm) Hypersonic Wind Tunnel a blowdown wind tunnel capable of sustaining speeds of M=6
Computers complement wind tunnel and all other experimentation at AARL. LabVIEW
LabVIEW
LabVIEW is a system design platform and development environment for a visual programming language from National Instruments. LabVIEW provides engineers and scientists with the tools needed to create and deploy measurement and control systems.The graphical language is named "G"...
is extensively used for experiment documentation and control, while FLUENT
Fluent
Fluent can refer to:* fluency, in linguistics, the ability to communicate quickly.* fluent , in mathematics, a continuous function* fluent , in artificial intelligence, a condition that varies over time...
and the Ohio Supercomputer Center
Ohio Supercomputer Center
Established in 1987, the Ohio Supercomputer Center is a partner of Ohio universities and industries that provides a high performance computing, research, cyberinfrastructure, and computational science education services....
are used for computational fluid dynamics
Computational fluid dynamics
Computational fluid dynamics, usually abbreviated as CFD, is a branch of fluid mechanics that uses numerical methods and algorithms to solve and analyze problems that involve fluid flows. Computers are used to perform the calculations required to simulate the interaction of liquids and gases with...
experimentation.
The most prominent area of research at AARL is jet engine test cell design. Under the patronage of GE Aviation, Ohio State Engineering has been at the forefront of jet engine test cell design for over 25 years. To test jet engine test cell designs, scale models of the interior of the building proposed to hold the test cell, as well as the test cell itself are reconstructed at AARL. The models are incredibly detailed, going as far as to contain scale furniture. Any number of scale jet engines can then be placed in the model, including a 1/12 scale model of the GE90, the largest jet engine ever built.
The AARL houses numerous other research facilities, including the Mechanical Engineering Department's Gas Dynamics and Turbulence Laboratory(GDTL) and Gas Turbine Lab. GDTL works cooperatively with NASA Glenn Research Center and Wright-Patterson Air Force Base
Wright-Patterson Air Force Base
Wright-Patterson Air Force Base is a United States Air Force base in Greene and Montgomery counties in the state of Ohio. It includes both Wright and Patterson Fields, which were originally Wilbur Wright Field and Fairfield Aviation General Supply Depot. Patterson Field is located approximately...
researching aeroacoustics
Aeroacoustics
Aeroacoustics is a branch of acoustics that studies noise generation via either turbulent fluid motion or aerodynamic forces interacting with surfaces. Noise generation can also be associated with periodically varying flows...
and high reynolds number flow related to propulsion. The Gas Turbine Lab is an R&D laboratory that focuses on the development of gas turbine aircraft engines and has an annual budget of over $4 million.