Accelerating the Pace of Hypersonics

There’s fast. And then there’s hypersonics fast.

Harnessing the expertise of nearly 40 world-renowned researchers, Purdue has one of the nation’s deepest teams focusing on the promising field of hypersonics, with capabilities in navigation, aerodynamics, aerothermal effects, propulsion, autonomy, system engineering, high-temperature materials and manufacturing.

Hypersonic systems travel at speeds of Mach 5 or faster and are highly maneuverable, making them potentially effective against heavily defended areas.

To accelerate its research efforts, Purdue is advancing plans for a multipurpose hypersonics research and development facility featuring a quiet wind tunnel system that can flow air at eight times the speed of sound, Mach 8, or more than 6,000 mph. The Purdue project to build an experimental test facility stems from a $5.9 million contract from the U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory, announced in summer 2019.

Defense and aerospace industry leaders and analysts describe hypersonic defense abilities as “game-changing” technologies, says Dan DeLaurentis, director of Discovery Park’s Institute for Global Security and Defense Innovation and a professor in Purdue’s School of Aeronautics and Astronautics.

And with the unpredictable political climates of our world, the U.S. Department of Defense has increased its hypersonics budget to about $2.4 billion for fiscal 2020, a figure that includes funding for research and development, ground and flight testing, and production.

“Purdue hypersonics research has persevered during the past two decades despite significant underinvestment in the field,” DeLaurentis says. “Purdue has a comprehensive plan for next-generation workforce development — ranging from high school through PhD programs and beyond — into the existing workforce.”

Intelligence experts estimate that the high-speed weapons could be in the field by the early 2020s.

Steven Schneider, a professor in the School of Aeronautics and Astronautics and a principal investigator on the Mach 8 wind tunnel project, says the new facility will provide measurements that can be used to develop computational simulations. Built near Maurice J. Zucrow Laboratories in the Aerospace District, the facility will be designed to function at multiple security levels in handling proprietary research collaborations with government and industry. Purdue’s would be the world’s first quiet Mach 8 wind tunnel as part of a development and building project that could take five years.

Purdue boasts the Boeing/AFOSR Mach-6 Quiet Tunnel, one of only three in the nation for analyzing the effects of airflow around a subscale prototype traveling at six times the speed of sound. At the same time, Purdue’s Office of Technology Commercialization is managing more than 100 patented hypersonics technologies developed by the University’s researchers.

“We have experience building this, so we have a better idea of what’s really needed for the Mach 8 wind tunnel than most anybody else,” Schneider says. “Quiet tunnels aid in estimating transition in flight by providing measurements at flight-like, freestream disturbance levels. Since Mach number is expected to affect transition, vehicle designs would be aided by an ability to obtain quiet flow measurements at a variety of hypersonic Mach numbers.”

Professor Schneider is transitioning leadership of the Aerospace Sciences Laboratory to Joseph Jewell, an assistant professor of aeronautics and astronautics who joined the Purdue faculty in August 2019.

According to DeLaurentis, Purdue researchers are accomplished across a broad range of fields — including aerodynamics, flight-trajectory control and materials — that are crucial to hypersonics technology.

The hypersonic glide vehicle, he explains, must be as small as possible but aerodynamically efficient, with a complex internal system managing the different control, guidance and navigation subsystems on board. Those strengths in the lab buttress the national demand for qualified college graduates who will support the field of hypersonics going forward.

“It’s very rewarding to be able to put 35 years of effort to work in the service of what are now recognized as critical national needs,” Schneider says. “I hope we can play a significant role in helping to enable new classes of hypersonic missiles that can help to defend freedom for the U.S. and its allies.”

Because of the depth and breadth of its research capabilities in this area, Purdue was invited to co-host the inaugural National Defense Industrial Association Hypersonics Capabilities Conference in July 2019, bringing together a consortium of military, government, congressional, industry and policy leaders to further advance U.S. hypersonic systems.

That’s important, DeLaurentis says, because without those sponsors and partners, “the pipeline that we need doesn’t get primed with collaboration and funding.”

“It is imperative that our nation comes out on top of the hypersonic weapons race,” says Hawk Carlisle, NDIA’s president and chief executive officer. “NDIA’s partnership with Purdue University for this groundbreaking conference sets the foundation for a cross-cutting team of innovators to position the United States and its allies for success.”