Under the CARES Act, $25 billion in federal aid was available to the airlines. UTSA Hypersonics home on Twitter Aviation News Airline CEOs meet with White House in last-minute plea for more coronavirus aid in Aerospace Engineering from The University of Texas at Austin.Ĭhris has extensive experience in investigations of hypersonic flow physics, with over 50 technical publications in this field and over $10M in research funding from various organizations including NASA, USAF, US Navy, and DARPA.Ĭhris active with the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA), the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME), and the American Physical Society (APS) and is a member of the AIAA Aerodynamic Measurement Technology Technical Committee, the San Antonio Chamber of Commerce Aerospace Committee, and the Dee Howard Foundation Education Advisory Council. He holds a BS degree in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Evansville and a Ph.D. Prior to starting at UTSA, Chris worked as a Research Assistant Professor at The University of Tennessee Space Institute. Commercial applications remain interesting, but far in the future. Interestingly, laser light can be used to probe the chemistry of a molecule and measure temperature and pressure.Ĭhris also considers likely future hypersonic applications in space and with the military. We look at the rate of data sample collection in the tunnel and the type of sensors used, which include non-intrusive diagnostic techniques rather than intrusive probes. Those include destructive shock waves and boundary layer flows. He tells us about the Mach 7 wind tunnel (a Ludwieg tube) that UTSA is building to study the aerodynamic effects of fast-moving objects. His primary area of research interest is in the development and application of non-intrusive laser-based measurement techniques for compressible flows.Ĭhris explains why Mach 5 is used as the definition of hypersonic flight, the heating effect at that speed on materials, and the unique chemistry of the air.

Chris is also leading the construction of a Mach 7 wind tunnel facility at UTSA. He currently leads a group of graduate and undergraduate students studying problems related to hypersonic aerothermodynamics.

is the Dee Howard Endowed Assistant Professor in Aerodynamics at the University of Texas at San Antonio (UTSA) Department of Mechanical Engineering.

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