The present LHSR has its origin in the High Enthalpy Aerodynamics Laboratory (HEAL) started in the early 1970's by Prof. N M Reddy, a student of Prof. I I Glass who was one of the pioneers in shock wave research. The first working shock tube consisting of 32mm diameter brass tube with metallic diaphragm separating the driver and driven sections was established in HEAL in 1972. Instrumentation for measuring the shock speed using a pair of platinum thin film gauges mounted 300 mm apart on the driven tube, pressure measurement using flush mounted PCB pressure sensor and heat flux using platinum thin film sensors with analogue networks, were employed in the shock tube.

Subsequently, the country's first Hypersonic Shock Tunnel (HST1) was built in 1973 using aluminum shock tube of 50mm diameter with a conical nozzle and variable throats capable of producing Mach numbers in the range of 4 and 13.

Since inception, HEAL has pioneered in the development of accelerometer based force balance system for measuring aerodynamic forces for various model configurations, platinum thin film gauges for measuring aerodynamic heat transfer rates and optical techniques for visualization of high speed flows in shock tunnels. In recent times there has been a paradigm shift towards interdisciplinary research steered by the core team consisting of Prof. K P J Reddy, Prof. G. Jagadeesh, Prof. E. Arunan (IPC Dept.) and Dr. S. Saravanan with the active participation of large number of researchers from within the campus and outside. The research activities aimed at understanding the shock wave phenomenon gave birth to Shock waves laboratory. Subsequently, shock waves found applications in chemical kinetics and bio-sciences research, giving birth to High Temperature Chemical Kinetics Laboratory and Bio-Sciences Laboratory. In the year 2010 all these laboratories were amalgamated under the name of Laboratory for Hypersonic and Shock wave Research (LHSR) located in the new building.