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UPDATE #35 - October 2, 1998 PART 1: Special Aeronautics Chats SPECIAL AERONAUTICS CHATS Have you always wanted to chat with a test pilot and find out what it's like to fly the SR-71? Do you have nagging questions about the propulsion systems of the future? Have you wondered how you might make a lesson plan to use the wind tunnel data from the Wright Flyer test? Do you think it would be fun to run a wind tunnel test for a space vehicle? The "Turning Goals Into Reality" conference seemed like a great chance to let our Aero Design friends chat with experts from each of the Aeronautic Centers! Please SIGN UP NOW for these special chats!! Tuesday, October 6, 1998, 10 AM Pacific Time: Frank Quinto, facility manager, Low-Turbulence Pressure Tunnel, Langley Research Center When asked what he likes most about his career, Frank explains that he enjoys being able to "work with tomorrow's planes today." Read Frank's autobiography at http://quest.arc.nasa.gov/aero/team/quinto.html Register for this chat at http://quest.arc.nasa.gov/aero/chats/#chatting Tuesday, October 6, 1998, 11 AM Pacific Time: Craig Hange, aerospace engineer, Ames Research Center Craig is involved in the Wright Flyer Test, in which a replica of the Wright Brothers' airplane will be tested in the 80-by-120 Foot Wind Tunnel. Read Craig Hange's autobiography prior to joining this chat. http://quest.arc.nasa.gov/aero/team/hange.html Register for this chat at http://quest.arc.nasa.gov/aero/chats/#chatting Wednesday, October 7, 1998, 9 AM Pacific Time: Mark P. Stucky, aerospace research test pilot, Dryden Flight Research Center He currently is assigned as the project pilot on the Eclipse Towed F-106 Program. He also is assigned to various flight test models of the F-18 and F-16 aircraft. Stucky has logged over 4,000 flight hours in over forty different models of aircraft varying from the triple-sonic SR-71 Blackbird spyplane to the Goodyear Blimp. Read Mark's autobiography at http://www.dfrc.nasa.gov/PAO/PAIS/HTML/bd-dfrc-p020.html Register for this chat at http://quest.arc.nasa.gov/aero/chats/#chatting Wednesday, October 7, 1998, 10 AM Pacific Time: Brent Nowlin, electrical operations engineer, Lewis Research Center Brent works with a team in a turbine facility, where he is responsible for ensuring all instrumentation and control systems function properly. Read Brent's autobiography at http://quest.arc.nasa.gov/aero/team/nowlin.html Register for this chat at http://quest.arc.nasa.gov/aero/chats/#chatting PROJECT NEWS
This week I attended a meeting focusing on the instrumentation plans for the Wright Flyer Wind Tunnel Test. The engineers were talking about little sensors and devices that measure the airflow around the plane during the test. They are thinking about the best way to test this plane which is made of cloth and wood. I'll try to write a journal about this for next week. I bet Orville and Wilbur would like to watch this test. There will be lots for you to learn and observe as the test keeps getting closer. Susan Lee Collaborative Projects - Schools, Classrooms Share Ideas The Internet is a way to share your ideas with other classrooms. Sound like fun? - Working together you can improve the designs of gliders, wind tunnels and learn about flight! Visit: http://quest.arc.nasa.gov/aero/events/collaborative/ to learn more about the collaborative projects planned to start soon, and sign up for the discussion lists. New Contest Planned If you'd like to plan ahead, future contests are listed in the Teachers Lounge.http://quest.arc.nasa.gov/aero/wright/teachers/ Introduction to K-12 Online Aeronautics Projects at NASA: Web Cast and Chat Wednesday, October 14, 1998 - 1:00 pm - 2:30 pm Pacific (4:00 pm - 5:30 pm Eastern) During this event we will introduce you to four exciting online projects. Off to a Flying Start Aerospace Team Online Foil Sim: Basic Aerodynamics Cooperative Agreement Aeronautics Projects Each presentation will last fifteen minutes and will be followed by a chat. For more information visit: http://quest.arc.nasa.gov/ltc/lewis/tgir/ [Editor's Note: Frank Quinto is wind tunnel manager. He's very busy! Read his bio at http://quest.arc.nasa.gov/aero/team/quinto.html ] WHEN IT RAINS IT POURS by Frank Quinto
September 10, 1998 For a Facility Manager every day is different, unlike when I was a test manager. Then there were two kinds of days; test days and non-test days. Some days as a facility manager I am putting out fires left and right. (You've heard the expression: When it rains, it pours!). Some days are calmer. Some of the emergencies I solve have to do with purchasing equipment parts for repairs. I get involved because I have a government credit card. I do a lot of ordering on the Internet. Once I had to drive to the hardware store and go through all the steps explaining that we are a tax exempt agency and that we should not be charged tax. Other time's problems arise due to communication problems. Sometimes information doesn't get passed on. I serve as peacemaker moving the issues towards solutions. I have to coordinate the schedule for my wind tunnel. To avoid a problem with the schedule I have build in slack into the schedule. Sometimes though you don't have enough slack. If there is a conflict, we try to promise to complete our testing within an appropriate time. If the schedule slips you have to call all the people that are effected by either moving the schedule forward or moving it backward. You have to get everyone to agree because if you don't the one person you don't reach will not be able to make his or her schedule fit the revision and then you have to start all over. I coordinate a lot of meetings. Since I have become a Facility Manager the number of meetings I attend has doubled. Most of them are staff meetings. When I was a test manager there were one or two fifteen-minute meetings a day. They were called end of shift meetings and we shared information as we changed shifts. Now I attend meetings of all the Facility Managers of the main facility. We get assigned things like Operations Plans for the Facility due Friday. Then I share that information with the staff at our facility. Then I have to attend priority meetings where we decide on the allocation of electrical power and high power air. Wind tunnels use a lot of power and a lot of high pressure air and so we prioritize based on the number of customers, the priorities, the schedules, and delays. This is interesting because you get to see what the other facilities are doing, how they handle problems that are similar to the ones you experience. We are classified as a medium to small facility. We are a research facility and our schedule is fairly easy going but we still have to meet the same requirements. The Low Turbulence Pressure Wind Tunnel is unique, the only one in the US at least. It's two-dimensional. Most of our testing has to do with the information about an airfoil. The wing goes from wall to wall. This allows us to discover how to maximize the performance of an airfoil. When the question comes up "What shape airfoil should we use?" The research results from this wind tunnel provide the answer. Most of the airfoil shapes that we test are for low speed transports. Most tunnels have some turbulence, which may not effect your test results. When you are doing airfoil testing you need low turbulence so that you can easily predict the airflow over the airfoil. The airfoils (a chunk of the wing) we test from leading edge to trailing edge are on the order of 2 to 3'. On a full-scale airplane they would be 10 to 20'. Most of the airfoils we test are for low speed transports. We also test three-dimensional models like an airplane. Because of the size of our tunnel which is 3 1/2' wide by 7 1/2' high and 7' long we can only test aerospace vehicles like the space shuttle, the X-33 or the X-34 (stubby winged aerospace vehicles). Most wind tunnels have wider than narrower. This tunnel is the other way around it has a taller and narrow test space. We can take a model (like the space shuttle) and test it in our tunnel then take it to a transonic tunnel and then take it to a supersonic tunnel. This means that you can test it at speeds all the way from 0 to Mach 6 with out having to build a new model. The other reason our tunnel is so unique is because we do tests at very high Reynolds Numbers. We can test at up to ten atmospheres. You can consider that one atmosphere is 15 lbs. per square inch. The actual atmospheric pressure at sea level is 14.7 lbs. per square inch. We can pressurize our tunnel up to 150 p.s.i. We get near flight level Reynolds Numbers, in other words the same flow conditions with a model that we would get with an airplane. What are Reynolds Numbers you ask? Well Reynolds numbers describe a scaling effect. You make a scale model to put in the wind tunnel. When you shrink it down to fit the test section of the wind tunnel you must also do some thing to the airflow in the wind tunnel, such as using high pressure or cryogenic mode. This involves using a different gas at very low temperatures like -250 degrees F. When you reduce the temperature you reduce the spacing between the molecules down to the scale of the model. Never a dull moment, but we get the job done! SUBSCRIBING AND UNSUBSCRIBING If this is your first message from the updates-aero list, welcome! To catch up on back issues, please visit the following Internet URL: http://quest.arc.nasa.gov/aero/updates To subscribe to the updates-aero mailing list (where this message came from), send a message to: listmanager@quest.arc.nasa.gov In the message body, write only these words: subscribe updates-aero CONVERSELY... 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