Category: NCSU Applied Aerodynamics Group – Brennan H & Nathan R

Today we tested our wind tunnels with a fan and used smoke to view the airflow within the tunnel.

During these days I worked on building a model wind tunnel. It starts with a large opening that slowly narrows leading to a straight tube with a window cut for observation, and then widens once again at the end. The tunnel narrows at the beginning to speed up the wind as it goes into the tunnel, and it widens at the end to diffuse the sped up wind.

Today we were able to sit in on a meeting between Masters students discussing a current project of theirs. The basic principle of the meeting was wing stabilization, but other than that I can’t tell you much else about what they said as it all went over my head.

Today I worked on modelling an A-10 Warthog in OpenVSP, a software used to model aircraft and aerodynamic testing. Later today I will be meeting on zoom with Joe and Dr. G.

Today we were given a tour of the facilities by Joe. We were taken to a quiet room which, shockingly, was quiet. The room was lined with pyramidal shaped foam that dampened nearly all sound in the room. We were also given a tour of the subsonic wind tunnel which had a propeller on one side that sucked air through the tunnel.

Today, we worked on finishing up our wind tunnels, and made some windows so we could see them. Tomorrow we will add smoke and a fan to see the air movement in the tunnel! We have some models and will be placing them in the compartment to observe the effects. No new photos from today because it was minor upgrades, but here is another photo of the tunnel:

 

 

 

Today, we constructed a homemade wind tunnel out of cardboard, pictured below:

the purpose of the funnel at the front is to draw in a large amount of air, then compress it so it will speed it up, and smooth the airspeed. Air is sucked in to negate turbulence, and keep the air smoothly flowing over the model.

 

Nothing incredibly interesting today, I viewed blueprints for our cardboard wind tunnel, will be working more on it tomorrow with pics!

Today, we sat in on a weekly checkup for a master students project. They were working on stabilizing a wing, throughout a wind tunnel and reporting their findings. The paper was unimaginably confusing, but the parts we understood were incredibly interesting. Pictured below, graphs of the groups findings (no i can not explain what they mean):

Pictured below: the set up for the experiment.

the wing is help on springs, and the ball with line creates vortices. this is intended to track how a wing pitches and heaves when exposed to turbulence.

tomorrow? water tunnel and lab tours!

Today, i worked on building an aircraft in a software used for aerodynamic testing. I then 3D printed this item, but we will have to wait until tomorrow to view the printed version. Below is a photo of the file i made. Tomorrow i will be meeting my host on zoom, and working on making this a little cleaner :).