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Aerial of Unitary Plan Wind Tunnel complex at NASA Ames Research Center.
NASA Logo on side of wind tunnel building
Truss Braced Wing airplane model mounted in wind tunnel

Ames Unitary Plan Wind Tunnel

NASA’s Ames Unitary Plan Wind Tunnel is located in the heart of California’s Silicon Valley. The Unitary Plan Wind Tunnel is a continuous flow tunnel in which three separate test sections cover a Mach number range between 0.2 and 3.5.

Learn More about the Ames Unitary Plan Wind Tunnel about Ames Unitary Plan Wind Tunnel

Location

Moffett Field, CA

Founded

May 1, 1956

People

100+

Division Chief

Maureen Delgado

Wind Tunnel Test Planning Information

Welcome to the NASA Ames Wind Tunnel site.

The Ames Wind Tunnel Operations Division welcomes all inquiries regarding potential tests in our facilities. Initial contact should be made as early as possible so that a place can be assured on the schedule and all long lead items such as hardware design and fabrication can be accomplished. It is best if this initial contact can be made at least seven months before the desired test time.

Visit the UPWT Test Planning Page
generic airplane model in wind tunnel
A generic transport model to assess the performance of computational fluid dynamics.
NASA

Focus Areas and Capabilities

Ames Unitary Plan Wind Tunnel Test Facilities

Videos

NASA Ames Unitary Plan Wind Tunnel Videos

3-Stage Compressor opened showing compressor Blades

NASA Ames Unitary Plan Wind Tunnel 3-Stage Compressor Blade Change

This video documents the 3-stage compressor blade change at NASA Ames Unitary Plan Wind Tunnel

four Main Drive Motors

NASA Ames Unitary Plan Wind Tunnel Stator Shift

Timelapse video documenting the periodic maintenance of four 65,000hp electric motors that drive the NASA Ames Unitary Plan Wind Tunnel compressors

construction crane

NASA Ames Unitary Plan Wind Tunnel Construction Video

This video documents the construction of the NASA Ames Unitary Plan Wind Tunnel (video contains no sound).

Unitary Plan Wind Tunnel at Ames.

The Optical Test Section of Tomorrow

Upgrading the World's Premiere Production Wind Tunnel

animated image of inside Wind Tunnel

Wind Tunnel Test of NASA’s Most Powerful Rocket (360° Animation)

This interactive 360° animation takes you inside the Unitary Plan Wind Tunnel at NASA’s Ames Research Center in Silicon Valley.

Orion Spacecraft Unsteady Pressure simulation

The Unsteady Pressure-Sensitive Paint System

This system utilizes state of the art technology to measure and visualize unsteady air flows, in near-real time, for wind tunnel vehicle tests. Additionally, this method allows for increased accuracy and data to be processed 10, 000 times faster..

NASA Ames Unitary Plan Wind Tunnel History

NASA Ames Unitary Plan Wind Tunnel facility was built in the 1950’s and funded by the Unitary Plan Act of 1949.

Learn More about the UPWT History about NASA Ames Unitary Plan Wind Tunnel History
Aerial of construction of Unitary Plan Wind Tunnel
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