High-Temperature Loads Calibration Laboratory

The requirement to measure flight loads on aircraft flying at supersonic and hypersonic speeds led the FRC to construct the High-Temperature Loads Calibration Laboratory in building 4820 during 1964. The facility allowed researchers to calibrate strain-gage installations and test structural components and complete vehicles under the combined effects of loads and temperatures. The laboratory was a hangar-type structure with a small shop and office area attached to one end. A door measuring 40 feet high and 136 feet wide allowed access to an unobstructed test area that was 150 feet long by 120 feet wide and 40 feet high.222

The High Temperature Loads Calibration Laboratory was established at the Flight Research Center to allow researchers to calibrate strain-gage installations and test structural components and complete vehicles under the combined effects of loads and temperatures. The facility was equipped with a programmable heating system that used infrared quartz lamps available in various lengths from 5 inches to 32 inches. Reflector arrangements were available for heating rates from 0 to 100 Btu per second per second and temperatures up to 3,000 degrees Fahrenheit. This photo shows an X-15 horizontal stabilizer being tested under the lamps. (NASA)

A state-of-the-art control room was provided to operate the heating and loads equipment remotely, and a data acquisition system occupied the second floor over the office spaces. Large windows overlooked the hangar floor, and the room included a closed-circuit television system. A high-capacity hydraulic system could operate up to 34 actuators to apply loads to test specimen or entire aircraft. Perhaps more importantly for the X-15 program, the facility had a programmable heating system that used infrared quartz lamps available in various lengths from 5 inches to 32 inches. Reflector arrangements were available for heating rates from 0 to 100 Btu per second per second and temperatures up to 3,000°F.[223]

NASA used this facility for a variety of purposes during the remainder of the flight program. This included testing a set of X-15 horizontal stabilizers as part of the loads program undertaken late in the flight program, and the laboratory proved to be critical for solving the inadvertent landing- gear extension problem suffered by X-15A-2 when it began its envelope expansion program. NASA later used the laboratory to test portions of the XB-70A and Lockheed Blackbirds.