Development of a Low-Speed Open Circuit Wind Tunnel

Abstract

The wind-tunnel test rig is very important for the study or design of airborne structures such as vehicles, quadcopter e.t.c. And this is because it is very difficult to accurately and efficiently predict turbulent flow fields computationally around the moving structure. This is the reason why the development of a laboratory size, the general-purpose low-speed wind tunnel was carried out. The fabrication was carried out at the central workshop of Federal University of Technology, Minna-Niger State. This wind tunnel structure was designed with the test section having 0.2m x 0.2m. The design of the setting section, contraction section, test section and diffusion section were numerically conducted. The power of the blower fan was selected based on the required test section parameters. The tunnel geometry is selected to give the best test section airflow and quality, test section size, and diffuser angle selected to avoid boundary layer separation. The dynamic pressure and mass flow rate of the flow were found to be 55.3 Pa and 0.4655 Kg/s respectively at the maximum test section velocity of 9.5m/s. The test section is 0.04m2 and has an efficiency of 63%.