Wind Tunnel Test Techniques
Design and Use at Low and High Speeds with Statistical Engineering Applications
- 1st Edition - October 20, 2023
- Imprint: Academic Press
- Authors: Colin Britcher, Drew Landman
- Language: English
- Hardback ISBN:9 7 8 - 0 - 1 2 - 8 1 8 0 9 9 - 0
- eBook ISBN:9 7 8 - 0 - 1 2 - 8 1 8 1 0 0 - 3
Wind Tunnel Test Techniques: Design and Use at Low and High Speeds with Statistical Engineering Applications provides an up-to-date treatment of the topic. Beginning with a… Read more
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Request a sales quoteWind Tunnel Test Techniques: Design and Use at Low and High Speeds with Statistical Engineering Applications provides an up-to-date treatment of the topic. Beginning with a brief history of wind tunnels and its types and uses, the book goes on to cover subsonic, supersonic and hypersonic wind tunnel design and construction, calibration, boundary corrections, flow quality assessment, pressure surveys, and dynamic testing. It also focuses on wind tunnel facilities, making it useful for both the designer and operator. Engineers and graduate students in aerospace, automotive and similar programs will find this book useful in their work with experimental aerodynamics, gas dynamics, facility design and performance.
- Deals with a broad range of flow speeds in wind tunnels, from low speed to high speed
- Provides a discussion of similarity laws as well as material on statistical analysis
- Includes coverage on facility-to-facility and facility-to-CFD correlation
- Presents advanced topics such as cryogenic wind tunnels, ground simulation in automotive testing, and propulsion testing
Aerospace engineers; Automotive engineers; Wind tunnel testing professionals; graduate students conducting experimental aerodynamics; wind tunnel design engineers
- Cover image
- Title page
- Table of Contents
- Copyright
- Author bio—Dr. Colin P. Britcher
- Author bio—Dr. Drew Landman
- Preface
- List of symbols and abbreviations
- Section I. Introduction
- Chapter 1. A brief history of the genesis of wind tunnels
- NACA Langley Memorial Aeronautical Laboratory
- Germany
- A note on Sir Francis Herbert Wenham (1824–1908)
- Chapter 2. Types and uses of wind tunnels
- Background
- Tunnel speed ranges
- Circuit layout
- Test section configuration
- Fluid type and state
- Drive system
- Variations on the aeronautical theme
- Application-specific tunnel types
- Moving up in speed
- Chapter 3. Dynamic similarity
- Relevant dimensionless groups
- Dynamic similarity
- Scaling of results
- General similitude
- Use of dimensionless groups
- Section II. Wind tunnel design and circuit aerodynamics
- Chapter 4. Subsonic wind tunnel design
- Introduction
- Energy and power in the tunnel circuit
- Pressures and velocities in the tunnel circuit
- Typical tunnel circuit layout and nomenclature
- Circuit loss assessment
- Diffusers
- Corners
- Constant cross-sectional ducts
- Heat exchangers
- Rapid expansions
- Flow conditioning—honeycombs and screens
- Contractions
- Test section
- Enhanced calculations—effect of compressibility
- Fan design
- Drive systems
- Example calculation of circuit losses
- Computational predictions of circuit performance
- Construction aspects
- Chapter 5. Boundary interference assessment and correction
- Introduction
- The nature of interference
- Approaches for analysis of boundary interference
- The method of images
- Panel methods
- Boundary-measurement methods
- Interference assessment in 3-D flows
- Effect of compressibility
- Special topics
- Chapter 6. Support systems and support interference
- Support systems
- Setting model attitude in the wind tunnel
- Strut supports
- Sting supports
- Blades
- Wire supports
- Others
- Force and moment transfer
- Support system loads
- Support tares and interferences
- Experimental support tare and interference evaluation—strut supports
- Support tare and interference evaluation—sting supports
- Base pressure correction
- Computational methods
- Examples of support interference
- Chapter 7. Transonic wind tunnels
- Introduction
- Analysis
- Early transonic test techniques
- Ventilated test sections
- Wall mass flows, porosity, and drive power
- Slot and hole flows
- Technical details
- Chapter 8. Supersonic wind tunnels
- Overview
- Thermodynamic considerations
- Improving circuit performance: diffuser pressure recovery
- Tunnel “starting” process
- Tunnel run times
- Nozzle design
- Wall and support interferences
- Test section design
- Fan and blower design
- Representative facilities
- Chapter 9. Hypersonic wind tunnel design
- Overview
- Scaling in hypersonic or hypervelocity flows
- Continuous running tunnels
- Impulse drives
- Shock tubes and shock tunnels
- Shock tunnels
- Free piston tunnels
- Gun tunnels
- Expansion tubes
- “Exotic” drives
- Common features
- Ranges of applicability
- Chapter 10. Force and moment balances
- Wind tunnel force measurement system terminology
- Internal strain gage balances
- External balances
- Chapter 11. Aircraft model design and construction
- Model types
- Personnel and roles
- Initial model definition
- Detailed design
- Wind tunnel model design example
- Chapter 12. Special topics
- High Reynolds number facilities—power economy in wind tunnels
- Adaptive wall test sections
- Ground simulation
- Propeller testing
- Magnetic suspension and balance systems
- Climatic simulation wind tunnels
- Section III. Operational and test procedures
- Chapter 13. Statistical engineering practices
- A brief history
- Overview: applications and benefits
- Experimental design
- Statistical process control
- Chapter 14. Wind tunnel calibration
- What constitutes a proper calibration
- Set-point calibration
- Calibration accuracy
- Spatial variations
- Time-varying measurements
- Other measurements
- Control charts
- Check-standard tests
- When and why should we calibrate?
- Calibration-related pseudo-Reynolds number trends
- Effects of humidity
- Chapter 15. Flow quality—assessment and improvement
- The link between flow uniformity, flow quality, and data quality
- Desirable levels of flow uniformity and quality
- Methods of achieving improved flow uniformity and quality
- The question of spectra
- Flow quality in transonic and supersonic facilities
- Experimental flow quality assessment
- When to perform flow quality assessments
- Chapter 16. Force and moment measurements
- Calibration and use of internal strain gage balances
- Method for calculating loads
- Calibration of external balances
- Calibration experimental design
- Chapter 17. Facility instrumentation and data acquisition systems
- Facility control and data systems
- Instrumentation
- Chapter 18. Planning of test campaigns
- Experimental design of aircraft wind tunnel test campaigns
- Performance automobile wind tunnel test campaign experimental design
- Split-plot parachute performance comparison test example
- Section IV. Wind tunnel test techniques
- Chapter 19. Pressure surveys
- Overview
- Airfoil lift and drag
- Wing drag and lift
- Chapter 20. Dynamic stability testing
- Aerodynamic derivatives
- Which dynamic derivatives are important?
- Basic principles
- Classification of dynamic stability test techniques
- Standard models
- Chapter 21. Facility-to-facility and facility-to-computational fluid dynamics correlation
- Facility-to-facility comparisons
- Facility-to-computational fluid dynamics comparisons
- Section V. Measurement techniques
- Chapter 22. Flow visualization
- Tracer injection
- Surface flow visualization
- Density-sensitive methods
- Interferometry
- Chapter 23. Flow measurements
- Flow measurements
- Pressure measurements
- Temperature measurements
- Thermal anemometry
- Laser Doppler anemometry
- Particle image velocimetry
- Pressure- and temperature-sensitive paint
- Absorption spectroscopy
- Planar laser-induced fluorescence
- Section VI. Postscript
- Chapter 24. The role of computational fluid dynamics in aerodynamics research
- Synergies between wind tunnels and computational fluid dynamics
- Examples of integrating computational fluid dynamics and wind tunnel studies
- A final thought
- Chapter 25. The future of ground testing
- Wind tunnel facility development
- Productivity—what is it really?
- US government policy
- Current trends
- So what should we look for in the future?
- Appendices
- Appendix A. A primer on statistical engineering
- Appendix B. Strain gage balance calibration example
- Appendix C. Example facilities
- Index
- Edition: 1
- Published: October 20, 2023
- No. of pages (Hardback): 670
- No. of pages (eBook): 1000
- Imprint: Academic Press
- Language: English
- Hardback ISBN: 9780128180990
- eBook ISBN: 9780128181003
CB
Colin Britcher
Associate Chair, Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, Old Dominion University, Norfolk, VA, USA
Dr. Britcher has more than 40 years’ experience in wind tunnel design and test techniques, starting as an undergraduate student. He has worked with a variety of facilities and applications, covering all speed ranges, including several NASA-funded projects.
Affiliations and expertise
Associate Chair, Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, Old Dominion University, Norfolk, VA, USADL
Drew Landman
Professor, Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, Old Dominion University, Norfolk, VA
Dr. Landman has more than 35 years’ experience on wind tunnel design, with an emphasis on experiment design and balance calibration. He was responsible for operations and test support of the "Langley Full-Scale Tunnel", the largest University operated wind tunnel in the world, prior to its decommissioning by NASA.
Affiliations and expertise
Professor, Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, Old Dominion University, Norfolk, VA, USARead Wind Tunnel Test Techniques on ScienceDirect