Aerodynamic Performance Testing

Discipline: Aerosciences Fran Capone, Bob Berrier and Larry Leavitt spent a majority of their NASA careers at the LaRC 16-Foot Transonic Tunnel conducting research in propulsion airframe integration (PAI). From WWII through its closure in 2004, the 16 Ft was at the center of PAI testing – practically every military vehicle was tested there. Fran, Bob and Larry have a tremendous amount of experience conducting PAI testing on a wide range of vehicles including DoD, commercial and space. Through the years, they developed several training modules for new employees on conducting wind tunnel tests with an emphasis on powered testing and PAI. They have graciously agreed to dust off some of those training presentations and share their knowledge with the NASA community.