ME 388 Applied

Instrumentation Laboratory
Wind Tunnel Lab
References
Munson, Young and Okiishi,
Fundamentals of Fluid Mechanics
Zucker, Fundamentals of Gas Dynamics
Zucrow and Hoffman, Gas Dynamics
Any fluids text
Experimental Objectives
Measure lift and drag forces
NACA 0012 airfoil (National Advisory Committee on Aeronautics)
At various angles to air stream

Determine coefficients of lift and drag and
compare to published values

Determine coefficients of lift and drag at the
stall angle
Wind Tunnel Testing
Allows engineers to predict the amount of
lift and drag that airfoils can develop in
various flight conditions.

A 747 aircraft can weigh over 200,000 lbs.

2D Components of Lift and Drag
Resultant force due to airflow across an
asymmetric body is not in the direction of
the airflow
Lift
Generated by pressure difference over the
airfoil when the air moving over the body
takes a different path to reach the same
point
Drag
Result of fluid friction
Opposes body motion
Lift and Drag Dependence
Size
Shape
Fluid flow

Principle of Similitude allows us to non-
dimensionalize these parameters
Wind Tunnel and Instrumentation
chord
o
Pitot tube
Lift/Drag
Dynamometer
Velocity meter
Blower
Airfoil
And D/P cell
U
s
chord
o
Pitot tube
Lift/Drag
Dynamometer
Velocity meter
Blower Blower
Airfoil
And D/P cell
U
s
U
s
NACA 0012 Air Foil
width
chord
o
Lift
Drag
o is the angle of attack
Scaled-down Physical Modeling
Consider size for a given shape
( )( ) Area Pressure Dynamic
Force Drag
C
drag
=
( )( ) Area Pressure Dynamic
Force Lift
C
lift
=
( )( ) Width Foil Length Chord Area =
2
2
u
Pressure Dynamic
air

=
3
18 . 1
m
kg
air
=
A u
F
C
air
drag
drag
2
2

=
A u
F
C
air
lift
lift
2
2

=
Lift and Drag Plots


Lift
Drag
F
o
r
c
e

(
N
)
Attack angle (degrees)


C
o
e
f
f
i
c
i
e
n
t
Attack Angle
Lift
Drag
Lab Measurements
Drag and Lift forces are measured with a
dynamometer

Chord and width are measured with a ruler

Air velocity is measured with a Pitot tube

Angle of attack is measured with a
protractor
Fluid Conditions
For similitude, fluid conditions must also
be similar
Fluid flow is non-dimensionalized via the
Reynolds number

uc
R
air
e
=
2
5
10 81 . 1
m
s N
=

Pitot Tube and Bernoulli Eqn.

Frictionless flow with only mechanical
energy
No heat transfer
No change in internal energy
2
2
2
2
1
1
2
1
2 2
gz
P u
gz
P u
+ + = + +

2
1 1 2
2
1
u P P =
Calibrate Dynamometer

Lift
Drag
Post
Dynamometer


|
meter
weight
Calibration Procedure
Remove air foil from dynamometer post
Attach string and weights from
dynamometer post and calibrate (use
weights to at least 1000 g)
Remove weights and turn-on wind tunnel
and adjust for air velocity for R
e
= 160,000
Record voltages from dynamometer
Turn-off air and re-install air foil
Record voltage (weight) of airfoil
Run experiment
Dynamometer Calibration Curves
1.10 1.15 1.20 1.25 1.30 1.35 1.40 1.45 1.50 1.55
L
i
f
t

F
o
r
c
e

(
N
)
volts
0.0 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6 0.7
D
r
a
g

F
o
r
c
e

(
N
)
volts
Experimental Procedure
1. Let dynamometer heat-up 15 minutes
before taking data
2. Adjust airfoil to 0 attack angle and take
dynamometer reading
3. Take readings every 3
4. When lift force decreases (voltage drops),
decrease attack angle in 1 increments to
determine stall angle
Lab Requirements Summary
Develop dynamometer calibration curves
Plot lift and drag coefficients as a function
of attack angle
Compare data to published NACA 0012
data at R
e
= 160,000, and for a flat plate
Determine angle of maximum lift, a.k.a.
the stall angle
Calculate uncertainty of the lift coefficient
at the stall angle
In 1915, the U.S. Congress created the National
Advisory Committee on Aeronautics (NACA -- a
precursor of NASA). During the 1920s and
1930s, NACA conducted extensive wind tunnel
tests on hundreds of airfoil shapes (wing cross-
sectional shapes). The data collected allows
engineers to predictably calculate the amount of
lift and drag that airfoils can develop in various
flight conditions. Reference?
NASA Photo