SESSION 8 - Status of NASA's Recovery Act Wind Tunnel Upgrade Projects

Mr George Sydnor, Capital Investment Projects Manager, NASA ATP, USA

SESSION 8 - Ensuring mission readiness; maximizing infrastructure and personnel resources (3)

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration’s (NASA) Aeronautics Test Program (ATP) is implementing five significant ground-based test facility projects across the nation with funding provided through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA). This investment initiative for NASA’s wind tunnels is the largest and most ambitious in the past twenty years.

The projects are:
 

1. The re-activation of a large compressor to provide a second source for compressed air and vacuum to the Unitary Plan Wind Tunnel at the Ames Research Center;
2. The addition of a high-altitude ice crystal generation capability at the Glenn Research Center Propulsion Systems Laboratory Test Cell 3;
3. A new refrigeration system and tunnel heat exchanger for the Icing Research Tunnel at the Glenn Research Center;
4. Technical viability improvements for the National Transonic Facility at the Langley Research Center; and
5. Modifications to conduct Environmentally Responsible Aviation and Rotorcraft research at the 14x22 Foot Subsonic Tunnel at Langley Research Center.

The technical description and status of each project are given here, including benefits and challenges of the ARRA funded projects. It is envisioned that improved facilities will attract a larger customer base, offer revenue growth, and maintain future operations stability by providing capabilities that are needed for current and future research.

The chosen projects will maximize wind tunnel reliability and maintainability by using newer, proven technologies in place of older and obsolete equipment and processes. The projects will meet NASA’s goal of integrating more efficient, environmentally safer, and less energy consuming hardware and processes into existing tunnel systems.
 

As the Capital Investment Program Manager, Mr. Sydnor supports the Aeronautics Test Program (ATP) Office Director by overseeing a variety of multi-million dollar projects spanning across the NASA Aeronautic Centers. For these projects, he provides detailed economic justification, risk assessment and management, validation of technical accountability, and assurance of successful project execution. These projects are major facility advancements, technology upgrades, and strategic maintenance that assure ATP provides the right capabilities for matching current and future program needs. Mr. Sydnor received his Bachelor of Science degree in Electrical Engineering with a specialties in power and controls systems from Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University in 1978. He worked for eight years at various manufacturing, industrial electronics and engineering companies prior to joining NASA. Mr. Sydnor joined the NASA Langley Research Center in 1986, where he has served as a Project Engineer and Senior Project Manager. He has been deeply involved in engineering, design, fabrication, construction, operation and management of NASA’s major aeronautics test facilities. His work has provided successful major advancements for national aeronautic test facilities including the National Transonic Facility, the 14 x 22 Ft Subsonic Wind Tunnel, the 8-Ft High Temperature Tunnel, the 30x60 Full Scale Wind Tunnel, the 31-Inch Mach 10 Tunnel, the Arc-Heated Scramjet Test Facility, and the 4-Foot Unitary Plan Wind Tunnel at the NASA Langley Research Center. Mr. Sydnor has a wide range of engineering knowledge in automated controls, hydraulics, machinery, plasma arcs, high pressure air, hydrogen, nitrogen, silane, and methane process systems, including LOX and LN2 cryogenic systems. Before joining the Aeronautics Test Program, Mr. Sydnor served as the Liquid Nitrogen Plant Project Manager at the NASA Langley Research Center, where he successfully managed the $20 million major Construction of Facilities project.

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