AEDC
The Arnold Engineering Development Complex (AEDC), Arnold Engineering Development Center before July 2012, is an Air Force Materiel Command facility under the control of the Air Force Test Center (AFTC). Headquartered at Arnold Air Force Base, ...
Range G is a two-stage
light-gas gun
The light-gas gun is an apparatus for physics experiments. It is a highly specialized gun designed to generate extremely high velocities. It is usually used to study high-speed impact phenomena (hypervelocity research), such as the formation of ...
owned by the
United States Air Force
The United States Air Force (USAF) is the air service branch of the United States Armed Forces, and is one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. Originally created on 1 August 1907, as a part of the United States Army Signal ...
.
History
Constructed in 1962, the AEDC Range-G is the largest routinely operated light-gas gun in the United States. It is located at
Arnold Engineering Development Complex
The Arnold Engineering Development Complex (AEDC), Arnold Engineering Development Center before July 2012, is an Air Force Materiel Command facility under the control of the Air Force Test Center (AFTC). Headquartered at Arnold Air Force Base ...
on
Arnold Air Force Base
Arnold Air Force Base (Arnold AFB) is a United States Air Force base located in Coffee and Franklin counties, Tennessee, adjacent to the city of Tullahoma. It is named for General Henry "Hap" Arnold, the father of the U.S. Air Force.
Ther ...
. The design of the range came from collaboration between German and American scientists after World War II. Range-G has played a crucial role in
lethality
Lethality (also called deadliness or perniciousness) is how capable something is of causing death. Most often it is used when referring to diseases, chemical weapons, biological weapons, or their toxic chemical components. The use of this ter ...
development for many defense programs. The range has performed more than 7,000 high speed launches.
Capabilities
Range G is capable of launching projectiles up to speeds of 7 km/s (22,965 ft/s). The gun has an interchangeable barrel that can accommodate projectile diameters of 3.3 inches, 4.0 inches, and 8.0 inches. The projectile is launched into a 10 ft diameter test chamber that is approximately 1000 ft long. This chamber can be conditioned to pressures from 0.2
torr
The torr (symbol: Torr) is a unit of pressure based on an absolute scale, defined as exactly of a standard atmosphere (). Thus one torr is exactly (≈ ).
Historically, one torr was intended to be the same as one "millimeter of mercury ...
(26.7
pascals
The pascal (symbol: Pa) is the unit of pressure in the International System of Units (SI), and is also used to quantify internal pressure, stress, Young's modulus, and ultimate tensile strength. The unit, named after Blaise Pascal, is defined ...
) to 1.7 atmospheres (172
kilopascals
The pascal (symbol: Pa) is the unit of pressure in the International System of Units, International System of Units (SI), and is also used to quantify internal pressure, stress (physics), stress, Young's modulus, and ultimate tensile strength. T ...
).
Sections of the tank can also be configured to simulate possible flight conditions such as rain or snow.
Currently the facility offers a wide variety of instruments for hyperballistic testing. Instruments are available for making measurements related to the flight of the projectile and the target impact event. Instrumentation includes
shadowgraph
Shadowgraph is an optical method that reveals non-uniformities in transparent media like air, water, or glass. It is related to, but simpler than, the schlieren and schlieren photography methods that perform a similar function. Shadowgraph is a ty ...
cameras,
high speed video cameras, and multiple plane digital
x-ray sensors. The range personnel have in-depth experience with the design and analysis of projectiles under gun conditions. AEDC also operates a fully staffed machine shop capable of fabricating complex projectiles for any of the available barrel sizes.
See also
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Ballistics
Ballistics is the field of mechanics concerned with the launching, flight behaviour and impact effects of projectiles, especially ranged weapon munitions such as bullets, unguided bombs, rockets or the like; the science or art of designing and a ...
*
NASA Chicken Gun
*
AEDC Ballistic Range S-3
AEDC Ballistic Range S-3 is a single stage air gun owned by the United States Air Force. The gun is commonly used for bird strike testing and is often called a chicken gun.
History
The first Range S-3 was developed by Eugene Sanders at the Arno ...
*
Ames Research Center
The Ames Research Center (ARC), also known as NASA Ames, is a major NASA research center at Moffett Federal Airfield in California's Silicon Valley. It was founded in 1939 as the second National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA) laborat ...
References
External links
Arnold Engineering Development Center(official)
AEDC Hypervelocity Range Fact Sheet
{{DEFAULTSORT:Aedc Range G
Space guns