The PWT is one of the few facilities in the world able to perform thermo-structural testing on large-size or real-scale 1:1 models
The SCIROCCO Facility is a Plasma hypersonic Wind Tunnel, based on the electric arc heater, with a maximum power of 70 MW . The plasma jet can reach up to about 2 meters in diameter , a temperature of 10000° K and a Mach 12 number .
With this facility, it is possible to simulate experimentally the thermal conditions that a space vehicle is subject to in re-entering the Earth’s atmosphere. The tests enable verifying the characteristics of thermostructural resistance of the materials and structures used for the thermal protection of space vehicles.
The facility allows to perform two types of tests for a duration of 30 minutes:
- static: steady flow conditions
- dynamic: trajectory