Four flow cases are calculated using a boundary layer method with five turbulence models. The Johnson-King model, in particular, is modified and two variant forms are used in the present work. The variant forms involve an anisotropic form of three-dimensional eddy viscosity formulations and a modification in the outer viscosity expression. It is found that the Johnson-King model generally performs very well as compared to the others, and the variant forms provide further improvement in most cases.

The effects of windtunnel constraint during low speed unsteady aerodynamic experiments are assessed by comparing the data from two Naca 0015 models, one with a chord length of half the other. Ramp-up and ramp-down tests are considered, to distinguish between the effects of constraint upon separation and attachment. The unsteady separation process measured in terms of the normal force, pitching moment and stall vortex convection speed, is virtually unaffected by the difference in constraint between the two models, whereas the attachment process, assessed in terms of the normal force response and attachment behaviour, is sensitive to the size of the model.

Project reviews are carried out to enable the right decisions to be taken to achieve project objectives. However, these decisions are often taken on incomplete, optimistic, inaccurate, misleading or simply wrong information. Whilst incompleteness is inevitable with the complex and rapidly changing nature of high technology engineering projects, it is important that the project manager has a good appreciation of the extent to which these other factors may affect the progress information upon which judgements are made. This paper explores a few of the traps the author has come across, and suggests possible approaches to avoid some of them.

A systems perspective is recommended, with a focus on risk management, resolving ambiguity, rapid response, trend analysis, earned value principles and taking account of the effects of organisational changes.

In response to the need for ground testing facilities for super orbital re-entry research, a small scale facility has been set up at the University of Queensland to demonstrate the Superorbital Expansion Tube concept. This unique device is a free piston driven, triple diaphragm, impulse shock facility which uses the enthalpy multiplication mechanism of the unsteady expansion process and the addition of a secondary shock driver to further heat the driver gas. The pilot facility has been operated to produce quasi-steady test flows in air with shock velocities in excess of 13 km/s and with a usable test flow duration of the order of 15 μs. An experimental condition produced in the facility with total enthalpy of 108 MJ/kg and a total pressure of 335 MPa is reported. A simple analytical flow model which accounts for non-ideal rupture of the light tertiary diaphragm and the resulting entropy increase in the test gas is discussed. It is shown that equilibrium calculations more accurately model the unsteady expansion process than calculations assuming frozen chemistry. This is because the high enthalpy flows produced in the facility can only be achieved if the chemical energy stored in the test flow during shock heating of the test gas is partially returned to the flow during the process of unsteady expansion. Measurements of heat transfer rates to a flat plate demonstrate the usability of the test flow for aerothermodynamic testing and comparison of these rates with empirical calculations confirms the usable accuracy of the flow model.