CIRA PT-1 is a wind tunnel covering the subsonic, transonic and supersonic regimes with excellent flow qualities, high operational flexibility and low costs. Thanks to its excellent flow qualities, CIRA PT-1 is specially suited to perform tests on models characterised by large extensions of Laminar Boundary Layer. Through the PT-1, CIRA is full member of the Supersonic Tunnel Association, Int’l.The Transonic / Supersonic Testing Group is made of highly experienced personnel, able to support the customer with test engineering activities, starting from the definition of test articles and instrumentation requirements, and, after the tests, with the reduction and the analysis of the data, their exploitation and eventually their extrapolation to the flight conditions. The same support can be provided to customers that should, for whichever reasons (e.g., need for a different Mach / Reynolds envelope, or for greater test section dimensions) require testing at other facilities, both in Italy or abroad; in this case, the supervision of the test activities performed at third parties wind tunnels can be guaranteed, making available to the customer the specific expertise of the Researchers and the Engineers working aboard the PT-1.
PT-1 is a pressurised wind tunnel facility, primarily oriented at supporting industry and research programmes with an aerodynamic and aeroacoustic testing capability in subsonic, transonic and supersonic regimes. The facility can operate:
• continuously, in the subsonic regime up to Mach 0.35, powered by a 145 kW variable pitch/variable speed fan;
• intermittently, in the subsonic and transonic regimes up to Mach 1.1, with a supersonic operating condition at Mach 1.4, powered by a high–pressure air–injection system; the available runtime is 150 seconds. Maximum operating pressure is 1.85 bara. PT-1 is equipped with two test section frames, that allow to cover the whole operating envelope with several test section configurations, depending both on the test article and on the tests to be performed. They all have a cross-section 0.35x0.45 m2 (HxW) and a 0.6 m length. Floor and ceiling walls divergence is adjustable to compensate for the boundary layer growth.
As a not-comprehensive example, it is possible to characterise the following types of test articles:
• 2D models, e.g. representative of wing sections, rotor and turbine blades;
• semi-span wings and half models;
• 3D models, e.g. representative of full configurations and slender bodies as missiles and launch vehicles;
• full scale probes;
• special set-up dedicated, e.g., to the aerodynamic and aeroacoustic characterisation of panels or aerodynamic protrusions, to flow control devices validation, or to study boundary layer stability to geometry imperfections due to machining tolerances.