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In conventional wind tunnels the solid-wall or open-jet test section imposes on the flow field around the test model new boundary conditions absent in free air. Unless a small model is used, the solid-wall test section generally increases the loadings on the model while the open-jet boundary decreases the loadings compared to the unconfined case. However, the development of a low wall-interference test section and its successful demonstration would allow the testing of relatively large models without the application of often uncertain correction formulae. The Tolerant wind tunnel, which makes use of the opposite effects of solid and open boundaries, is a transversely slatted-wall test section designed to produce at an optimal wall open-area ratio (OAR) low-correction data for a wide variety of model shapes and sizes. Initially intended for low-speed airfoil testing, its use is theoretically and experimentally investigated here in connection with bluff body testing. A simple mathematical model based on two-dimensional potential flow theory and solved with the help of a vortex surface-singularity technique is used to estimate the best wall configuration. The theory predicts an optimum OAR of about 0.45 at which pressure distributions on flat plate and circular cylinder models of blockage ratios up to 33.3 % would differ from the free-air values by not more than 1 %. On the other hand, experiments performed with flat plate, circular cylinder and circular-cylinder-with-splitter-plate models indicate the existence of an optimum configuration around OAR = 0.6. The experiments also show a maximum allowable blockage in the Tolerant wind tunnel to be equivalent to the blockage created by a 33.3 %-blockage-ratio flat plate model. / Applied Science, Faculty of / Mechanical Engineering, Department of / Graduate

Previously, the concept of the tolerant wind tunnel, developed in the Department of Mechanical Engineering, U. B. C., was tested only for stationary models. In the present study, the concept is investigated for unsteady airfoil motion. The new wind tunnel test section, using the opposite effects of solid and open boundaries, is a new approach to reduce wall blockage effects. Consisting of vertical airfoil slats uniformly spaced on both side walls in the test section, it is designed to produce a nearly free-air test environment for the test model, which leads to negligible or small corrections to the experimental results. The performance of this wind tunnel for unsteady model testing is examined experimentally with a two-dimensional NACA 0015 airfoil in a simple plunging sinusoidal motion. The airfoil is mounted vertically in the center plane of the test section between solid ceiling and floor. An oscillating table is designed to give the airfoil an accurate plunging sinusoidal motion. A full range of open area ratio is tested by varying the number of slats mounted inside the side walls. Pressure distribution along the airfoil surface and displacement of the airfoil are measured as functions of time by a data acquisition system designed for this research. Lift and moment are obtained by integration of the pressure distribution at every time increment. Using a numerical model based on the singularity distribution method, the free air case results for a NACA 0015 airfoil in the same unsteady motion are obtained. Comparison with the linear theory results by Sears¹ are discussed. Comparing with the numerical and the linear theory results, the experimental investigation shows that the new test section produces low-correction data. / Applied Science, Faculty of / Mechanical Engineering, Department of / Graduate

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The broad aim of the work presented in this thesis is to investigate the wake of an airfoil under the combined effects of streamwise curvature and pressure gradient. This was accomplished by an experimental investigation using hot-wire anemometry and large eddy simulation (LES). The wake was generated by placing a NACA 0012 airfoil in a uniform stream of air, which is then subjected to an abrupt 90o curvature created by a duct bend. The experimental work was conducted in a subsonic open-return type wind tunnel. The test section measured 457 mm × 457 mm in cross-section and consisted of a 90o bend with radius-to-height ratio of 1.17. The symmetrical airfoil was of chord length (c) 150 mm, and its trailing edge was located one chord length upstream of the bend entry. The effects of airfoil angle of attack and mainstream velocity on the mean velocity and turbulence quantities of the near-wake were examined. In addition, the mean velocity and turbulence intensity profiles of the boundary layer on the upper surface of the airfoil were measured. In the numerical investigation, the three-dimensional, incompressible turbulent flow in the duct was computed using the finite volume method. The effect of modelling parameters, namely, grid resolution and sub-grid scale (SGS) model were studied. Three different sub-grid scale models were employed, namely, the classical Smagorinsky, its dynamic variant (DSMG) and the dynamic kinetic energy transport. The effect of grid resolution was assessed by conducting simulations with the DSMG model on three different grids. The first two grids incorporated the full spanwise extent of the duct (3c), and the third grid comprised a reduced spanwise segment (0.5c) with periodic conditions set in the spanwise direction. A bounded central differencing scheme was employed for the discretization of the convection terms. The temporal discretization was by a second-order implicit method that incorporated a forward difference approximation. The performance of LES in depicting the experimental flow was assessed and compared with the results predicted by the Reynolds Stress Model. The experimental profiles at zero angle of attack revealed the differing effects of curvature on the mean and turbulence quantities in the inner-side and outer-side of the wake. The spanwise distributions of mean velocity and turbulence intensity, in the near-wake, indicated variations with identifiable peaks and troughs which corresponded to the presence of streamwise vortices in the wake. The spanwise variations were larger on the inner side of the wake and significantly reduced on the outer side. The results showed that close to the trailing edge, the dominant effect on the wake was from the airfoil boundary layer, whereas one chord length downstream of the trailing edge, it was the effect of curvature and pressure gradient from the duct which was dominant. The results from the numerical study showed the advantages of LES over Reynolds-averaged Navier-Stokes methods in predicting separation on the convex wall of the bend on relatively coarse grids, but also shortcomings in the prediction of the wake parameters. The dynamic variants of the SGS models were more accurate in predicting the flow in the wake. On a considerably finer grid with near-wall airfoil grid spacings of Δx+ < 80, Δy+ < 0.5, and 20 < Δz+ < 50, LES resulted in much improved comparisons with the experimental data. The improved prediction of the wake parameters was attributed to the improved simulation of the boundary layers on the upper surface of the airfoil. However, the effect of the reduced spanwise extent resulted in a lack of prediction of separation on the convex wall of the duct.

A solution to the current problem of wind tunnel wall interference could be achieved by ventilating the test section and thereby controlling the flow pattern around the model. The motivation for the slotted wall test section arises from the fact that a fully open jet and a fully closed jet introduce corrections of opposite sign to the wind tunnel data. This current work is limited to axisymmetric wind tunnels and solid blockage corrections. Such a tolerant axisymmetric wind tunnel (TAWT), which does not need any correction to the measured flow quantities and which is also independent of the test model shape and size would find wide application in the field of industrial aerodynamics. A numerical model based on a surface singularity potential flow method showed that at 70% OAR (open area ratio) for models of size up to 25% blockage and for three different shapes the tunnel design would yield results (coefficient of pressure) with less than 2% error while such models might need up to 75% data correction if tested in a solid wall wind tunnel. Experiments indicated good agreement with the numerical investigation and at 60% OAR the TAWT gave results close to free air results for all the models tested (up to 25% blockage). / Applied Science, Faculty of / Mechanical Engineering, Department of / Graduate

M.Phil. / In today's world with its competitive environment there is a need to shorten product development time by using CFD (Computational Fluid Dynamics) to design an object for example a car, aeroplane or missile and to predict the forces that the wind will have on the object (design). To evaluate the correctness of the CFD results, the design or a scale model of the design must be tested in a wind tunnel by using a force balance. The wind tunnel balance is an apparatus used in the designing and testing of wings, shapes and profiles. In general a balance can be used in all aerodynamic designs to determine the forces on an object when it is moving through air. The aim of this project was to design and manufacture a three-component external balance for a low-speed wind tunnel using an axiomatic design method. It also covers the installation of the external wind tunnel balance to a wind tunnel with a computerized data acquisition capturing system, and performance evaluation of the wind tunnel balance.

Mississippi State University has a subsonic closed return wind tunnel facility with an open test section configuration. This research analyzes the test section flow quality using a numerical approach and explain how the diffuser's collector suppresses unsteadiness. Previous experiment assessed the flow quality at the wind tunnel without the collector, and velocity was measured using a pitot-static probe and hot wire. The results show a numerical comparison between the two configurations, with and without the collector, understand the effect of the diffuser 's collector on steadiness and uniformity. This paper will describe the wind tunnel facility and give further details about the measurements tools and the set up, and then introduce the numerical method used and analyze the cases of study and their results.