Test to Destruction: “Aeroelasticity Matters” 1981 NASA Langley 1960-1981 Wind Tunnel Tests
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“Pages from the test diary of Langley Research Center from 1960 all the way until 1981.” Includes many “test to destruction” events. With music.
Public domain film from NASA, slightly cropped to remove uneven edges, with the aspect ratio corrected, and mild video noise reduction applied.
The soundtrack was also processed with volume normalization, noise reduction, clipping reduction, and/or equalization (the resulting sound, though not perfect, is far less noisy than the original).
A wind tunnel is a tool used in aerodynamic research to study the effects of air moving past solid objects. A wind tunnel consists of a closed tubular passage with the object under test mounted in the middle. A powerful fan system moves air past the object; the fan must have straightening vanes to smooth the airflow. The test object is instrumented with a sensitive balance to measure the forces generated by airflow; or, the airflow may have smoke or other substances injected to make the flow lines around the object visible. Full-scale aircraft or vehicles are sometimes tested in large wind tunnels, but these facilities are expensive to operate and some of their functions have been taken over by computer modelling. In addition to vehicles, wind tunnels are used to study the airflow around large structures such as bridges or office buildings. The earliest enclosed wind tunnels were invented in 1871; large wind tunnels were built during the Second World War…
In destructive testing, tests are carried out to the specimen’s failure, in order to understand a specimen’s structural performance or material behaviour under different loads. These tests are generally much easier to carry out, yield more information, and are easier to interpret than nondestructive testing…
Langley Research Center (LaRC) is the oldest of NASA’s field centers, located in Hampton, Virginia, United States. It directly borders Poquoson, Virginia and Langley Air Force Base. LaRC focuses primarily on aeronautical research, though the Apollo lunar lander was flight-tested at the facility and a number of high-profile space missions have been planned and designed on-site.
Established in 1917 by the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics, the Center currently devotes two-thirds of its programs to aeronautics, and the rest to space. LaRC researchers use more than 40 wind tunnels to study improved aircraft and spacecraft safety, performance, and efficiency. Between 1958 and 1963, when NASA started Project Mercury, LaRC served as the main office of the Space Task Group, with the office being transferred to the Manned Spacecraft Center (now the Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center) in Houston in 1962–63.
The current director is Lesa B. Roe…
History
In 1917, less than three years after it was created, the NACA established Langley Memorial Aeronautical Laboratory on Langley Field. Both Langley Field and the Langley Laboratory are named for aviation pioneer Samuel Pierpont Langley. The Aviation Section, U.S. Signal Corps had established a base there earlier that same year. The first research facilities were in place and aeronautical research was started by 1920. Initially the laboratory included four researchers and 11 technicians.
Langley Field and NACA began parallel growth as air power proved its utility during World War I. The center was originally established to explore the field of aerodynamic research involving airframe and propulsion engine design and performance. In 1934 the world’s largest wind tunnel at that time was constructed at Langley Field with a 30 x 60 foot test section, which was large enough to test full scale aircraft, one of the first wind tunnels able to do this…
Early in 1943 the center expanded to include rocket research, leading to the establishment of a flight station at Wallops Island, Virginia. A further expansion of the research program permitted Langley Research Center to orbit payloads. As rocket research grew, aeronautics research continued to expand and played an important part when subsonic flight was advanced and supersonic and hypersonic flight were introduced.
Langley Research Center can claim many historic firsts, some of which have proven to be revolutionary scientific breakthroughs. These accomplishments include the development of the concept of research aircraft leading to supersonic flight, the world’s first transonic wind tunnels, the Lunar Landing Facility providing the simulation of lunar gravity, and the Viking program for Mars exploration…
