The world’s largest pressurized cryogenic wind tunnel, the National Transonic Facility (NTF), possesses unique capabilities to duplicate actual flight conditions. The NTF supports advanced aerodynamic concept development and assessment, advanced computational fluid dynamics tool validation, and risk reduction for vehicle development.
The NTF provides the highest transonic Reynolds number testing capability in the world, and can use either conventional air at ambient temperatures as the test gas, or gaseous nitrogen (expanded from injecting liquid nitrogen) at temperatures as low as -250 ºF for achieving flight test conditions. With a wide range of customizable instrument and measurement techniques, both full-span and semi-span model testing is supported.
