China builds the world's fastest wind tunnel

Tunnel wind tunnel at 265 meters, can simulate the flight more than 30,000 km / h.

China says it is building a wind tunnel capable of simulating flights moving 25 times faster than the speed of sound. Tunnels can be used to test designs and test for resilience as well as other features of spacecraft, the China Daily reported on March 20.

The wind tunnel is being developed in China. Photo: Construction Global.

"The 265-meter tunnel can be used to test super-fast moving speeds at March 25 (30,625km / h), 25 times the speed of sound , " said Han Guilai, National Institute of Scientific Experiment of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS).

The fastest wind tunnels in the world can only reach speeds from March 5 to 9 (6,125 - 11,025 km / h). Researchers at CAS have successfully tested a supersonic aircraft in such a speedy tunnel. This new tunnel will help China become a leading player in wind tunnel construction.

Tunnels use the motion of air around the object to simulate the environment of actual flight, in order to detect problems that may occur to planes or spacecraft. "When the problems are discovered in the ground test, they will be corrected before the test flights are conducted," Guilai said.