Science India Bureau
The Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur (IITK) has successfully developed and tested India’s first Hypervelocity Expansion Tunnel Test Facility, marking a significant milestone in the nation’s progress towards Atmanirbharta (self-reliance). With this significant accomplishment, India joins a select group of nations possessing this cutting-edge hypersonic testing capacity.
The S2 facility can simulate hypersonic conditions for vehicle atmospheric entry, asteroid entry, scramjet missions, and ballistic missiles. It can generate flight speeds ranging from 3 to 10 km/s. For ongoing ISRO and DRDO projects like Gaganyaan, RLV (reusable launch vehicle), and hypersonic cruise missiles, this makes it a useful test facility.
The Hypersonic Experimental Aerodynamics Laboratory of the Department of Aerospace Engineering, IIT Kanpur, has designed the facility. A corpus of Rs 4.5 crores was provided in 2018 to support the facility’s development by Fund for Improvement in S&T Infrastructure (FIST) of the Department of Science & Technology (DST).
The facility is divided into four main sections: The test section with a high vacuum system for creating and maintaining the hypersonic flow, the compression tube, the shock/acceleration tube, and the free piston driver. The DST-FIST programme allowed for the acquisition of the facility’s whole instrumentation, including pressure sensors, related equipment/instruments for data acquisition and processing, and a vacuum system with a test section and related instrumentation.
“The successful establishment of S2, India’s first hypervelocity expansion tunnel test facility, marks a historic milestone for IIT Kanpur and for India’s scientific capabilities,” remarked Prof S Ganesh, director of IIT Kanpur, in a press release. “I commend Professor Mohammed Ibrahim Sugarno and his group for their outstanding work in creating the hypersonic research infrastructure. S2 would enable India’s space and defence agencies to conduct in-country hypersonic testing for vital projects and operations.”
“The most important and difficult part of building S2 was perfecting the free piston driver system, which requires firing a piston at high pressure between 20 and 35 atmospheres down a 6.5 m compression tube at speeds of 150-200 m/s and bringing it to a complete stop or ‘soft landing’ at the end,” explained Prof Sugarno, associate professor, Department of Aerospace Engineering and Centre for Lasers & Photonics at IIT Kanpur.
“But we managed to go beyond this with our knowledge. Our team is honoured to have created, constructed, and tested this unique facility, solidifying India’s standing in the world’s preeminent hypersonic research community,” he added.
“S2 highlights IIT Kanpur’s research excellence, positioning the institute at the forefront of innovative research and opening doors to ground breaking advancements in aerospace technology,” stated Prof Tarun Gupta, Dean of Research & Development, Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur.
The number of hypersonic research projects in India is rapidly increasing, and the establishment of a hypersonic test facility there will encourage additional researchers and aerospace engineers to work on hypersonic projects. Future defence and space missions, as well as the optimisation of currently operating vehicles, will benefit from the research and data produced in the facility.
“With S2, we advance our research horizons, inspiring a new generation of aerospace enthusiasts and fostering innovation and exploration in this exciting field,” stated Prof G M Kamath, Head of the Department of Aerospace Engineering, IIT Kanpur. “We can establish a new standard for hypervelocity research in India and beyond because we are the first in the country to build a facility of this kind.”
The creation of such a facility will place India at the forefront of experimental hypersonic research worldwide. It accelerates Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s vision of a scientifically advanced nation and provides a significant capacity boost for India’s space and defence sectors. It also puts India in a better position to develop advanced hypersonic technologies and systems.
