The department has an outstanding variety of experimental and computing facilities on campus. This page discusses all funded facilities, as well as some of the other academic resources found at the department.
This is a list comprising all facilities and equipment found at the Pennsylvania State University. Categories are Wind and Water Tunnels,
Advanced Structures and Materials, Space Propulsion, Aeroacoustics, Turbomachinery, and Other Facilities.
These are roughly categorized according to research programs; more information about the many research programs may be found in the Research Page.
Wind and Water Tunnels
- Low-turbulence subsonic wind tunnel with six-component strain gauge balance (3.25 x 5 foot test section)
- Low-turbulence boundary layer tunnel (16 x 16 inch test section)
- Low-speed axisymmetric tunnel (3 foot diameter test section)
- Supersonic wind tunnel (6 x 6 inch test section); Mach 1.4 to 4.0
- Supersonic free shear layer facility (2 x 5 inch test section);
Mach 1 to 2 and Mach 2 to 4
- Convective heat transfer tunnel with real-time color image processing
- Compressed air flow facility
(300-psi reservoir)
- Several probe calibration jets
- Water tunnels include a laminar flow water channel with 1.5 x 2.5 foot test
section, and access to the Garfield Thomas water tunnel. The Garfield Thomas Water Tunnel Laboratory consists of 48", 12", 6", 4.5"
x 20" water tunnels, and a 1.5" cavitation tunnel (Water, Freon 113). A 48" Glycerine tunnel is also available.
- Accessories to
the above facilities include centrifugal fans and pumps, Schlieren/shadowgraph flow visualization system, several computer-based data acquisition systems,
various wave analyzers and other special purpose instrumentation, and axial flow research fan
Supersonic tunnel, test section removed (49K) |
Subsonic tunnel (3.25'x 5') -- aerial view (29K) |
Subsonic tunnel -- turbine fan (8 blade, 6' dia) (14k) |
Subsonic tunnel -- side view (209k) |
Axissymetric wind tunnel (233K) |
Axissymetric tunnel test section (3' dia) (290K) |
Subsonic tunnel test section (3.25' x 5') (127k) |
30"x18"x15' water tunnel with mounting (217k) |
Advanced Structures and Materials
Most composite equipment is found at the Composites Manufacturing Technology Center (operated jointly with the Department of Engineering Science and Mechanics). - High temperature bi-axial tension/torsion testing facility
- Fiberoptic interferometer
- Ultrasonic inspection system
- Elastomeric characteristic test facility
- Autoclave (3 foot diameter x 7 foot length)
- Computer-controlled filament winding machine
- Pultrusion machine
- Braiding machine for composite materials manufacturing
Autoclave (3' dia) (200K) | Elastomeric characteristic test facility (61K) | Structures machinist shop (295K) | Filament winding machine (73k) |
Space Propulsion
All experimental facilities for research in space propulsion are located in and are operated in conjunction with the NASA Center for Space Propulsion Engineering located at the University Park Campus. - Unsteady propellant combustion facility with IBM PC based data acquisition system
- 1 meter ID by 2 meter long vacuum facility for simulation of the space environment (low-density flow),
- 3 kW variable power microwave generator operating at 2.45 GHz.
- Additional equipment for the facilities include 0.5 meter computer-controlled spectrometer system and a CW Nd: Glass laser for heating and diagnostic studies.
0.5m Spectrometer (314K) | Microwave arcjet unit, in operation (155K) | 2m Vaccuum facility (245K) | Unsteady solid propellant combustion facility (217k) |
Aeroacoustics
- Small anechoic jet noise facility
- Anechoic chamber with full environment
- Reverberant room
- Additional rotating noise facilities
Semi-anachoic chamber (238K) | Full anachoic chamber with jet noise facility (341K) | |
Turbomachinery
- 3' diameter large scale axial flow compressor facility (single-stage)
- 3' diameter large scale axial flow turbine facility with modern blading
- Multi-stage research compressor facility (500HP),
- 10" torque converter facility with rotating flow instrumentation
- Centrifugal compressor test facility
- Instrumentation include specialized turbomachinery probes, rotating probe traverse mechanism, 2 x 16 channel high-speed data acquisition system (1 MHz), 156 channel electronic pressure scanner and data acquisition system (20 KHz), various medium speed data acquisition systems (50 KHz), 3 axis high resolution stepping motor driver, large low noise slip ring unit (150 ring), and a Mercury slip ring (2 x 10 channels)
- Turbomachinery Heat Transfer facilities include:
- Hot air wind Tunnel (room 39) including a low speed cascade and turning duct test section
- High speed turbine cascade (90 % complete in room 41)
- A rotating disk heat transfer device
- A three component fiber coupled LDV system driven by a 5 W Argon-Ion Laser
- A 1 component semi-conductor laser based miniature LDV system
- An image processing system for liquid crystal color interpretation
- Several jets for probe calibration
Single-stage compressor facility (283K) | Axial flow turbine (3' dia) (294K) | Multi-stage compressor facility (264K) | Automotive torque converter facility (209k) |
Other Experimental Facilities Include:
- Three-component, back-scatter laser velocimeter mounted with four degrees of freedom, including a subminiature semiconductor model
- ATC/510G flight simulator
- Thermal analysis system with hot-wire probes (single, double, triple, and five), thermocouples, and surface mount sensors
- Acoustic emission system
- Reflection polariscope used in material fabrication and characterization
Excellent computational facilities
are available in the Department of Aerospace Engineering,
Applied Research Laboratory, Computer Science and Engineering, Engineering
Computer Laboratory, and the University’s Information Technology Services (ITS) labs. Full
internet support is available in these facilities, as well as in all campus
dormitories. Students are also encouraged to obtain their own personal
computers.
The Information Technology Services (ITS) regularly holds classes and/or
information sessions on operating systems and popular systems and popular
application software available on the various computer platforms. Information
regarding the CAC and its services may be obtained from any of the campus
student computer labs.
Hardware
-
Penn State computing systems
include the IBM ES-9000 three-vector processing mainframe
(at CAC), a 16-node SGI
power challenge, 140-node IBM SP2 Parallel computer (at CAC),
and a 50-processor Beowulf PC cluster (400 MHz PII's).
-
Workstations found in 316 Hammond also available to all include IBM RS/6000
workstations, networked X-terminals, Silicon Graphics UNIX-based workstations,
Sun Workstations, and IBM-compatible and MacIntosh personal computers.
-
The Aerospace Engineering Computer Lab, Room 51 Hammond Building, contains
X-terminals, Linux-based PC's, SGI workstations,
IBM-compatible personal computers running Windows NT.
Most of the computer
labs are outfitted with a combination of laser printers,
and plotters.
-
Additional access to NSF and NASA Supercomputer centers is available.
Software
In addition to the standard software used around campus, what follows is a summary of popular software used by aerospace engineering students, grouped by type of application. This is not an all-inclusive list, and also should not be taken as a tutorial on a particular application software's use. Detailed information on available software can be obtained from the CAC computer labs or the lab operators. Computer hardware and software can be purchased locally at the Microcomputer Order Center (Willard Building) or the Penn State Bookstore. PROGRAMMING
- FORTRAN, C and C++ compilers (most workstations and personals)
- MATLAB (workstations)
- IMSL, LINPACK, and EISPACK program code libraries for engineering FORTRAN and C programs (through network)
SPREADSHEETS AND DATABASES - Microsoft® EXCEL (most personals)
- Microsoft® ACCESS (51 Hammond personals)
COMPUTER AIDED DESIGN - IDEAS (SGI and UNIX workstations, 316 Hammond)
- ProEngineer (workstations, 316 Hammond)
- AutoCAD r12 (51 Hammond personals)
- Additonal CAD packages may be found on the SGI workstations in 51 Hammond.
MATH SOFTWARE - MATHEMATICA (SGI and UNIX workstations, 316 Hammond)
- MathCAD (most personals)
- MATLAB and MAPLE (various workstations and personals)
- Graphical data analysis programs such as TECPLOT are found on most workstations in 51 and 316 Hammond .
SIMULATION AND ANALYSIS SOFTWARE
|
STK -- Satellite Took Kit (Rms. 51 and 131 Hammond).
Penn State participates in the Education Alliance Program, sponsored by Analytical Graphics, Inc.,
which provides licences for Satellite Tool Kit and many of its modules. Registered students can
obtain individual copies of the software directly from AGI
or by contacting Dr. Robert Melton. |
Engineering Library The Engineering Library on the third floor of Hammond Building houses thousands of volumes of engineering texts, periodicals, and literature. Most material can be checked out of the library upon presentation of the student's identification card. Several photocopy machines are available, as well as areas to study. Academic Advising
Each student is assigned an official advisor to help with scheduling, career planning, or other academic matters. The appropriate time to meet with an advisor is during the semester, as they are usually busy during registration. If the advisor is not available, one of the departmental staff assistants can locate him/her or contact another person who can help the student. More information can be reached through
Dr. Robert Melton, Principal Advisor, 229 Hammond, 865-1185. He can also assist in complex scheduling problems. Coursework Consultation Professors, graduate teaching assistants, and undergraduate teaching interns hold scheduled office hours for student help. Special appointments can also be arranged if the student cannot meet the scheduled office hours. One of the department secretaries may be able to help arrange such appointments. Individual tutoring for 300-level aerospace engineering courses is provided by Sigma Gamma Tau members during scheduled hours. Group help sessions can be arranged if warranted by substantial interest on a particular subject. Scheduled tutoring hours are announced throughout the semester. | The Engineering Library is located directly one floor above the aerospace office, providing easy access to most reference materials |