Aerodynamics Research Laboratory

We are a multidisciplinary research laboratory dedicated to the research and development of advanced high-speed aerodynamics.

Announcements:

10/15/2024 – Supersonic Wind Tunnel timelapse video is live!

Check out this brief timelapse and interview about the recent redesign of the Missouri S&T Supersonic Wind Tunnel facility!

07/12/2024 – Supersonic Wind Tunnel upgrade is complete!

The ARL supersonic wind tunnel has been going through an extensive upgrade with a brand new nozzle, test section and diffuser. The new test section features large optical windows to be used with modern laser based diagnostic such as Tomographic PIV and 2-FLDI (both already available in our lab)

05/06/2024 – Two ARL students win awards at the Missouri S&T Undergraduate Research Conference

Congratulations to Allie Dingfield and Joshua Gary for winning 1st and 3rd place respectively the Undergraduate Research Conference in the engineering oral presentations category!

MAE Department celebrates student achievements at Undergraduate Research Conference

05/03/2024 – ARL awarded NSF ERI grant

🎉 Exciting News! 🎉

I am thrilled to announce that the ARL has been awarded a research grant from the National Science Foundation (NSF) for my project titled “ERI: Experimental Investigation of Compressibility Effects on Turbulent Kinetic Energy Production in Supersonic Flows.” 🚀

This grant presents a remarkable opportunity to delve deeper into the fascinating realm of supersonic flows and investigate the intricate interplay between compressibility effects and turbulent kinetic energy production. 🌪️💡

I am immensely grateful to the NSF for their support and confidence in this research endeavor. It is a testament to the significance of advancing our understanding of complex fluid dynamics phenomena, which have profound implications across various fields, from aerospace engineering to climate science. 🌐✈️

I look forward to embarking on this journey of exploration and discovery, and I am excited about the insights and innovations that will emerge from this endeavor. Stay tuned for updates as we delve into the fascinating world of supersonic flows! 🛫🔬

04/17/2024 – Research Day at the Capitol

Congratulations to Joshua Gary for presenting his research at Missouri Capitol on April 4th! You can find more information at this link.

04/01/2024 – ARL students to present at various events in April

On April 4th, Joshua Gary will participate in the Research Day at The Capitol where he will present the upgrades to the Missouri S&T Supersonic Wind Tunnel to the Missouri Legislators.

On April 10th, five of our students will present at the UnderGraduate Research Conference at Missouri S&T. Joshua Gary will present the upgrades to the Missouri S&T Supersonic Wind Tunnel, Allie Dingfield the application of quantitative shadowgraph imaging, Logan Banker the error quantification for a Slug Calorimeter, Noah Cain the development of a numerical model of the Supersonic wind tunnel, and last but not least, Austin Sanders the numerical modeling of a scheduled gain PID controller.

On April 19th and 20th, Allie Dingfield will present at the NASA-MOSGC conference her work on quantitative shadowgraph imaging.

01/17/2024 – Aerodynamics Research Lab presented at AIAA SciTech 2024

On January 12th, in Orlando Florida, Dr. Viganò presented the “New Testing Capabilities of the Missouri University of Science and Technology Supersonic Wind Tunnel” (co-authored by Joshua Gary) at the AIAA’s SciTech 2024 conference. This conference, the largest aerospace one in the world, gave an opportunity to reveal the new testing capabilities at the Missouri S&T Aerodynamics Research Lab.

10/13/2023 – Expand Your Horizons Event at the Aerodynamics Research Lab

About 30 middle school students visited the Aerodynamics Research Lab on Friday as part of the Expand Your Horizons STEM event. This event historically has brought middle school girls (7^th and 8^th graders) to campus with the intent of showing them some of the vast opportunities in STEM and the important role woman play in STEM professions.

The session, titled “From Ground to Orbit: A Journey Through Space and Back” was done in collaboration withe M-SAT team. The students learned from Logan and Allie about supersonic flows, and about their research experiences.

10/03/2023 – Aerodynamics Research Lab Students win multiple awards

Congratulations to Allie Dingfield for being awarded the 2023-20204 NASA-Missouri Space Grant Consortium internship program. This award will allow Allie to continue researching optical density fluctuations measurements techniques for supersonic wind tunnels.

Congratulations to Joshua Gary for being awarded 1st place at the Future Research Pioneer Program poster presentation. Joshua’s poster, titled “Tomographic PIV System for Supersonic Wind Tunnel Application”, was the culmination of the summer research work.

07/19/2023 – The Aerospace Camp visits the Aerodynamics Research Lab

On July 19th about 70 students from the Missouri S&T Aerospace Camp (ages 10-13) visited the Aerospace Research Laboratory. They learned about speed of sound and Mach number, how a supersonic wind tunnel works, and witnessed a short shadowgraph imaging demonstration.

Allie Dingfield wins First Place at the S&T Undergraduate Research Conference

We are thrilled to announce the remarkable achievements of one of our students at the Undergraduate Research Conference held on April 13th, 2023. Allie Dingfield, a freshman in Mechanical Engineering, presented her poster titled “Direct Density Fluctuations Measurements in Supersonic Flows” in the “research proposal” category and won first place in the category, earning a $500 prize. Her research has significant implications for the aerospace industry and showcases the exceptional quality of research conducted by our students. Allie is currently doing research in the Aerodynamics Research Laboratory.

We are proud to see our students excel in research and are excited to see what the future holds for Allie. Join us in congratulating her for her remarkable achievements!