A quick preview of the new hypersonic wind tunnel at NC State

After almost two years of preparation and installation, the hypersonic wind tunnel at NC State is finally operational!

A wind tunnel capable of speeds six times faster than the speed of sound, Professor Venkat Narayanaswamy and a team of undergrad and graduate students commissioned the hypersonic wind tunnel they have been working on since 2022.

The tunnel is capable of speeds up to Mach 6 and can run for up to 10 seconds, simulating high-speed flight conditions long enough to see how materials and flight controls behave during realistic flight situations. It is the only hypersonic wind tunnel in the Southeast.