North American Trisonic Wind Tunnel (TWT)

The North American Trisonic Wind Tunnel (“TWT”) in El Segundo, California is a world-class research and development facility serving the world’s defense and civilian aerospace testing needs.  Its Mach number capability spans 0.2 to 3.5 and it boasts a 7-foot by 7-foot “walk-in” test section.  It was built by North American Aviation in the late 1950s, and over the years has contributed to many well-known programs such as XB-70, X-15, Apollo, B-1, B-1B, Gripen, Eurofighter, and many Boeing, Douglas, and Lockheed airliners.  Its current customer list is a who’s who of aerospace, including the US Army and Navy, Boeing, ATK, Bombardier, Cessna, Lockheed Martin, Northrop, and Raytheon.  The TWT is operated by Allied and is owned by the University of California, Los Angeles.

TWT operation depends on a small but highly motivated and enthusiastic multi-disciplinary team of engineers and technicians.  The challenges facing them include maintaining the 50-year old facility, and upgrading it to meet the needs of the 21st century, while still providing the service and competitive pricing demanded by our customers.

Our Advantages

Unique combination of performance and test section size

COMPARED WITH SIMILARLY SIZED CONTINUOUS WIND TUNNELS:

• Much wider speed range

• Higher Reynolds number

• Fast and easy access to the test article

COMPARED WITH OTHER BLOWDOWN TUNNELS

• Much bigger test section

• True walk-in access

• Bigger model scale allows modeling of smaller details (e.g. control surfaces)

• Allows full-scale testing of many missiles & projectiles