Wind Tunnel Lab

176 Lehman Building

Contact Person: Chuck Eastlake

Open Circuit Wind Tunnel

Description

The wind tunnel laboratory, which occupies 2304 square feet, is located on the first floor of the Lehman Building. Its main entrance is from an interior hallway, and there is also access to a loading dock on the exterior of the building. The floor plan is shown below. The interior room 176A was originally intended to be a data acquisition room.

Equipment

Open circuit wind tunnel, 30 inch by 40 inch test section.
- 160 miles per hour maximum flow velocity.
- 50 horsepower direct current drive motor.
- Six component Aerolab sting balance, 3/4 inch diameter.
- 62 tube manometer.
486 PC-based data acquisition system.
2-D smoke tunnel, 2 inch by 36 inch test section.
- Various airfoil models.
- Smoke generator.
- Vacuum system for boundary layer suction.
3-D smoke tunnel, 18 inch by 24 inch test section.
- Smoke generator.
Two 166 MHz Pentium computers.

Utilization

The wind tunnel laboratory is used for undergraduate instruction, graduate research projects and, occasionally, for contracted wind tunnel testing by companies or individuals from outside the University. AE309-Experimental Aerodynamics, a required course in the Aerospace Engineering curriculum, makes regular use of these facilities, as does AE411-Advanced Experimental Aerodynamics.

Force Balance

Tunnel Inlet. Electric Motor and Fan at Far End, Exhausting to Outside.