1 Overview 2 Details of the Model Construction - Canada France ...

11 University of Washington 36” Wind Tunnel Tests
11.1 Overview
Having successfully completed all our tests in the
UWAL Water Tunnel facility ahead of schedule, on 11
March we were given access to the 36” wind tunnel
facility for half a day of preliminary tests in preparation
for the full scale wind tunnel tests planned for later this
year. The principal objectives were to test the structural
integrity of the water tunnel model under the more
rigorous operating conditions in the wind tunnel, as well
as to explore options for flow visualization and flushing
time tests. Here we document our findings and lessons
learned to provide a reference for work to follow.
Figure 19: View of the UWAL 36” wind
tunnel shownfrom the inlet end, looking
toward the testsection and the power unit at
the rear.
11.2 UWAL 36” Wind Tunnel
The UWAL 36” wind tunnel is housed in an
independent building adjoining the Kirsten wind tunnel
facility. This single story building is completely
devoted to the wind tunnel, so there is no intrusion with
any other laboratories or office space. The wind tunnel
uses an open circuit, straight through design, with an
inlet filter and baffle section, tapering down to the test
section, then diverging to the single propeller power unit at the exhaust end.
The test section has a rectangular, 36”x36” cross section, and is 8’ long. Both sides and the top are
made of plexiglass, with steel strengthening members which offers clear visibility of the model being
tested for a wide range of viewing angles. Since the wind tunnel is located in the middle of the
building, there is adequate room ( > 10’) between the building walls and the test section for convenient
placement of cameras, lights and video equipment. This wind tunnel does not have any lighting
equipment, so all the necessary lights with tripods will have to be provided by us.
The floor of the test section has a rectangular opening, ~2’6”x2’, closed by a wooden trap door on
which the model is mounted (see Figure 21). The trap door is bolted from underneath, making access
easy. In addition, one of the side walls of the test section is a hinged window running almost the entire
length of the test section, which thus provides free access to the model between tests (and is of course
kept closed during testing).
The power unit is a variable pitch propeller driven by an electric drive (Figure 20, right). The wind
speed is controlled manually by adjusting the pitch of the blades through a hydraulic control
mechanism. The free stream wind speed in the test section is measured using a U-tube manometer
(Figure 20, left) one end of which is connected to a fixed point on the upwind side and the other to the
test section. The differential reading on manometer has been directly calibrated to wind speed. The
maximum wind speed at which the unit may be run continuously is 140 mph.