Design and performance of an ultra-compact, low-speed, low turbulence level, wind tunnel for aerodynamic and animal flight experiments
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348_2022_Article_3519.pdf
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Author(s)
Breuer, Kenneth
Drela, Mark
Fan, Xiaozhou
Di Luca, Matteo
Date Issued
October 22, 2022
Publisher
Springer Berlin Heidelberg
Citation
Experiments in Fluids. 2022 Oct 22;63(11):169
Version
Final published version
Abstract
Abstract
We present a novel closed-circuit ultra-compact wind tunnel with an 8:1 contraction ratio and high flow quality. Its overall footprint area is less than half that of a conventional tunnel with the same test section size and same contraction ratio, enabling significantly smaller material and construction costs. The tunnel’s key features which enable the small footprint include a two-dimensional main diffuser, a minimum-length contraction, and expanding turning vanes with a 1.167:1 ratio in corner two and an aggressive 1.875:1 ratio in corner four. Separation in the latter is prevented using a screen and honeycomb integrated into each vane passage—the first time this has been used in a wind tunnel. The tunnel exhibits excellent flow quality with less than
$$\pm 1$$
±
1
% mean flow variation in the test section core and a freestream turbulence level of 0.03% at 12 m/s over a 4 Hz–20kHz bandwidth.
Graphical abstract
MIT Department
Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics
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DOI of Published Version
https://doi.org/10.1007/s00348-022-03519-1
