Hypersonic Wind Tunnel Diffusers Design Based on Numerical Analysis of Flow Field

The design of a fixed geometry hypersonic wind tunnel diffuser is presented for Mach numbers of 5, 6 and 7. The design is based on the development cost reduction and minimizing the pressure ratio for stable flow in test section. The conceptual design is done based on statistical nondimensional geometrical data of existing hypersonic wind tunnels. In the preliminary design, the optimum value of each geometrical parameter is determined by using computational fluid dynamics. The diffuser isentropic efficiency is used as the design criterion. Finally, the geometry with the highest possible efficiency is obtained for highest tunnel run time.