Iran Builds Advanced Supersonic Wind Tunnel
TEHRAN (Tasnim) - A group of Iranian aeronautical scientists at Imam Hussein University manufactured an advanced supersonic wind tunnel, capable of performing laboratory tests with air flows reaching a velocity of Mach 8.
The Iranian engineers achieved the great success by upgrading the previous versions of the wind tunnels, which could carry out tests at Mach 1 or below Mach 3 speeds.
A wind tunnel is used in aerodynamic research to study the physical behavior of solid objects in laboratory scales. It is particularly used to test and modify a prototype of the flying objects, such as missiles, drones and aircraft, before they are mass-produced.
Last Iranian year (ended on 20 March 2013), Commander of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) Major General Mohammad Ali Jafari had unveiled plans to produce the gigantic wind tunnel inside the country, saying the local scientists should design the supersonic wind tunnel capable of producing speeds of Mach 8.
Before Iran’s outstanding achievement to produce such a high-tech tool, the country had no choice but to deliver its new high-speed missiles and aerospace vehicles to foreign countries for testing purposes, which potentially increased the risk of disclosure of the indigenous research information.
The new indigenous product would also enable Iran to save huge amounts of money by making the country self-sufficient in wind tunnel tests technology.
