Ce.ntre for Aeronautical Science FROM THE NRC COME SCIENTIFIC ANSWERS TO AERONAUTICAL QUESTIONS WH ENEVER aeronautical re sear.c.h is , h we ,·t·r. tlu c, I~ I j,i} j, ,:• lol~.1 sonnel's time, but the testing d:ine is usually of spe~ialized types. John Parkin says that whenever p:issible they try to avoid doing any routine type cf testing, and no work that a commercial laboratory can do, is undertaken. \1/hile wind tunnel testing to a large extent comes under the heading of straight testing, nevertheless •the Divi sion devotes a great deal of time to this area, the main reason being that though the testing itself is more or less routine, the data derived requires interpretation by specialists. Only a limited amount of "research" as opposed to "investigation" is con ducted by the Di,·ision. "We have t:-i ca rry on a .certain amount of 'research' to keep up morale ," says John Parkin. ".\fora le is all-impcrtant in a research crganization; if that goes, you might as well get out." Flexible: T he Division has two principal features which enable it to tackle problems and find solutions with a minimum of fuss and expense. The first of these is flexi bility . . . flexibility of organization, finance, the mind , and even of the very buildings which the Division occupies. This flexibility makes it possible to get into action quickly and provides maneuverability. The second feature is that the Division is mainly restricted to the giving of advice. That is, ·it investigates proh kms. st:t:king ,o! utions, then passes thn,· ,0!11 t1o n, <, !1 10 th<.: int r.::<:-ted parties. It assumes no 3dministrative responsibility for the application of these solutions. :--:at all investigation or research are carried out on the request of in dustry or other Government agencies. T he Di"ision frequently initiates pro jects on its own; sometimes the need for su.ch an original in\'estigation be comes e,·ident when work is being carr ied out on another project. Among the programs recently re cei ,·ing attention were ones on reheat and application of the area rule rn the Canadair Sabre. The reheat project has resulted in the successful develop ment cf an afte rburner for the Orenda 14, and the loose ends are currently just being tied up on this application. Initial de\'elopment work in this con nection \\'as carried out \\'ith the Rolls Royce Derwent. The ?\RC rehea·t dif fers from earl ier developments else• where in that the extra raw fuel is injected hefore the turbine, rather than after, as is usually the practice. Among other advantages is the extra cooling of the turbine blades that is provided. The area rule project had no news· worthy outcome, ha"ing no effect on performance of the Sabre to which it wais applied. However, the NAE Flight Research Section ( which is cur rently administered by the NRC's Divi sion of Me.chanical Engineering), which carried out the flight tests on :1 C::it~:id:i ir-mudifi<.:d Sabre, r<.:gards rhe :tl",·nn: , : t.:rTl'ct ,,n performa nce as a AIRCRAFT u :l,u ;\t tl i, ali o l 1h c:--1 r:1 11 , ·I l ii _- p, r l ( Si1 1h~ ~ lO C, So oflici henc :,!inn o l St i, p :111101 :---;RC rep rt and r:1rr) :111plication o f thi unit was to R-R D erwents installed in a borrowed Meteor. 36 JcpcnJent on the results of aeronauti cal res~ard1. On the other hand. ii they a r,· to serl't: the needs of industry, th,· research facilities must he of the hig hest order of cxcccllencc. They must bi: of suitable scope lo tackle the n c\\' pr::blems created by the needs of military a1·iatio11 wd they must he staffed hy people with the best tr:iin ing, experience and :ibility." H ow close do the aeronau tica l fac ili ties of the NRC come to meeting this description ? Actually, they fall some \\'hat short insofar :is equipmem is concerned. T here is a desperate need for a new supersonic wind wnnel such as is planned for construction at Up lands. Present wind tun nels :i t .:vlon treal Road can still d o useful work in the low speed regime, but the super sonic installa tions hal'e d efinite limita tions. ·working Tools: These arc some of tl1c tools the Di\'ision has for aero na u rical research : Wind Tunnels - ( l ) a low speed horizontal wind lllnnel with a 10 ft. by G ft . working section and capable of a maximum airspeed of about 300 mph; ( 2) a vertical wind lllnncl with an open working section some 15 ft. in diamete r and a maximum speed of about GO ft. sec., u sually used for free spinning tests; (3) a high speed tunnel with a JG in. by 30 in. working section, a runn ing time of about 15 sees., and a speed range from Mach 0.5 to Mach 2.0; ( 4 ) a supersonic lllnnel with a l O in. square working section, capable of supersonic operation only at air srceds up to approximately .\llach 3.0 and ha,·ing a running time of one minute or more. The two low speed tu nnels, which comprise the L ow Speed Aerodynamics Laboratory, are both of the continu ously operating type, while the other two runnels, operated by the High Speed Aerodynamics L aboratory, are of the interm ittent type, rncuum oper ated. T he 6 ft. by l O ft. low speed unit, thoug h regarded as obsolete, still is in c~nstant use, even in con nection with the development of the supersonic CF ! 05. As NRC scien tists point out ... "Such airplanes have to slow d own to land and it is n ecessary to be familia r with their behaviour at such times." At the p resent time this so-called "obsolete" tunnel is in such heavy d emand hy A vro, Canada ir a nd de Havilland Canada, tha t the 1'RC AIRCRAFT e 11 ,. r 11 t l e a a p ff n si Sf w oi SI IV t L T ac tu ol al: or sh th 11:11n. 1d . 11 mtry, ,£ the.: Thc.:y le th~ : Ca binet De• fence Committee. By org a nizi1_g the NAE in this manner. th e need for new legisla tion, w as avoided and 1t'u n ds for the operation of th e Establishme nt have since been re gularly included in the estimate~ of both the NRC and the DRB. The physical nucleus of the NAE has from the tim e its formation been ma d e u p of the NRC's Division of Mecha nical Engineering on Mont real Rd.. Ottawa . a nd th o Flight Research Section a t Upland s (for- pared to the se.ction uscard1 pro;.:ram at the Univers it y of Toronto a s Ion;:; ago as the year 1917. merly al Amprior ), near Ottawa . The d irector of the NAE since its formation has been J. H. Pa rkin . who has s;•;nultaneously contin u ed as dire ctor of the NRC's Division of Me chanical Engineering . Un d er the t e rms of th e long rang.:, plan for the NAE, the Flight Research Se ction is eventually to b e operated • by th e DRB. This transfer of ad ministrative authority will take place following the com pletion of the n e w supersonic wind tunnel which is pla nned a s part of the Up la nd o p eration. Thus, the NRC's Montrea l Roa d facility a nd the greatly-expanded Uplands facility, will tog ether con tinue to form th e physical compon ents of the Na tional Aeronautical Establishme nt. with Mon tre a l Road being operated by the NRC and Up lands b eing op erated by the DRB. The costs arc similarly to be div id ed between the two organiza1ions. clear of the effects of the boundary !aye;. The I O in. square supersonic tunnel is also used for testing of dynamic morlels. It was used extensively during the development of the Velvet Glo\·e guided missile. In addition to the foregoing, there is a 5 in. supersoni.c wind tunnel which is actually the one•twelfth scale "pilot" model of the 5 ft. square supersonic tunnel which will be built at the site of the :---; .-\E Flight Research Section at Uplands. :\ lth::ugh eh~ work so fa. done on this tunnel has been c:irried out by the Di\'ision of \[echanical En gineering, which will also. it is under stood, see the project through the construction state, the tunnel will eventually be oper:ned by the Defence Research Board•. Of interest also is a small water tunnel which is operated by the Aero dynamics Section for Row visualiz:ition work. Flow visualization is achie\·ed by means of aluminum particles in suspension in the wate r being directed past the mo-1azis were defeated, and regarded as one of the few useful th ings which the :---JRC got in the: form of scientific booty from the: conquest. ( Co111i11ued on page /09) ·The relationship between the :--Re. the N ,\ E and the DRB. and who is or will be responsible for the operation of wh>t fo.:ili1ics, is explained elsewhere on this page. 37 nd JSt 1ft Jn es le ll: es l t r- , St / g d h , I ,\11(.l [ noticed in !.1sL 11w111 .·~ l.r, ,fr \ fagazine that c1.n 11 rc .n tl1t tunnel to -lfl ' F . .i· 111.1x1111u rn ~pen!. \\'.11cr injcctul through an array of no;:zlc.:s .111

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