Zack Perrin, ARF manager and technical lead engineer at USASMDC’s Targets and Test Resources Branch, said ARF is the command’s premier hypersonic flight and hypervelocity impact laboratory. He noted that the facility’s 254 mm light gas guns are the fastest in the Army, capable of launching six-inch projectiles at up to three kilometres per second and smaller projectiles at speeds exceeding six kilometres per second.
“I like to tell people that the facility is a gun range the size of an aircraft carrier and within the facility are multiple engineering tools, called light gas guns,” Perrin said. He added, “Aerophysics’ core mission is to efficiently and affordably provide both the Army and the broader Department of War engineering community with state-of-the-art hypersonic aerodynamic data, hypervelocity impact physics data, and weapons system performance data.”
Explaining the simulator, Perrin said, “An artificial rainfield is exactly what it sounds like.” He added, “Essentially, we have a reservoir filled with water that has a series of hollow needles of a given size coming out of it, that have water droplets flowing out of them,” noting that the system allows precise adjustment of droplet size, spacing and density.
“This test and its predecessors have been highly successful,” Perrin said. “Our team has performed phenomenally and has captured incredible data,” he added, outlining plans to conduct three hypervelocity shots with different projectiles and velocities for two customers within three weeks.
Matthew Intardonato, a general engineer in SMDC’s Concepts Analysis Division, said the December test was the third in a recent project and the first to use a non-spherical projectile. “We’re currently working on a research project dedicated to developing diagnostic techniques for imaging and acquiring data on the effects that rain has on hypersonic vehicles,” he said.
Intardonato explained that earlier tests fired nylon spheres at around Mach 8 to evaluate advanced imaging and optical diagnostics. “We were still highly successful in evaluating multiple advanced imaging methods as potential approaches to capturing experimental test data,” he said, adding, “Almost every test is different, that’s what makes the job so fun.”
Describing the test process, Intardonato said, “Once we’ve designed the experiment, we focus on the buildout and configuration implementation.” He added, “When the gun goes off, everyone is behind two feet of concrete and instead of a resounding boom that everyone expects, it’s much more of a relatively quiet thud.”
Intardonato said the team’s flexibility and results depend on experience and collaboration. “Ultimately, the ARF supports the warfighter by providing the Army and DoW with experimental data to enable engineers to build better and more lethal weapons systems,” he said, adding that stronger data improves the tools and information available to warfighters.
