Concept for Reducing the Cost of Subsonic Wind Tunnels

Abstract

The cost of a wind tunnel is strongly influenced by the size of the test section. In turn, that test section size is determined by the desirable model size and the allowable blockage in the test section. Open jet test sections can tolerate models with higher blockage than in closed jet test sections and thus provide lower facility costs, both for initial construction and for operation. However, wind tunnels with open jet test sections have had a phenomenon called pulsing. A new concept for an open jet wind tunnel has been shown to eliminate pulsing, provide a longer test section and to give good aerodynamic drag measurements, even with model blockage of 20%. The cost of such a wind tunnel is significantly less than the conventional closed jet wind tunnel.