T4 - Free-Piston Driven Shock Tunnel - School of Mechanical & Mining Engineering

The T4 Stalker Tube began operation in April 1987 and commenced routine operation, after a commissioning period, in September 1987.

The 10,000th shot of T4 was fired in August 2008. T4 was designed to be capable of generating conditions suitable for testing scramjets and the majority of shots in the tunnel have been aimed at fundamental studies of the performance of scramjets and their components. The tunnel has also been used for studies of sub-orbital aerothermodynamics of re-entry vehicles and for fundamental studies of phenomena such as boundary-layer transition.

Specifications

Compression tube: 229 mm ID x 26 m long
Piston mass: 92 kg
Shock tube: 76 mm ID x 10 m long
Contoured Nozzles:
Mach 4
Mach 6
Mach 7
Mach 8
Mach 10
Nozzle supply enthalpy range: 2.5 - 15 MJ/kg
Nozzle supply pressure range: 10 - 90 MPa