Design and Development of a Subsonic Wind Tunnel for Aerodynamics Studies

Abstract

This project aimed to design a low-speed wind tunnel used for aerodynamics testing. The primary focus of the project was on the flow uniformity at the test section, as well as optimizing the values of velocity and reducing pressure loss. The turbulent intensity was also kept at the minimum. Additionally, three different airfoil cases were numerically investigated separately at various angle of attacks (AOA) using ANSYS Fluent. Flow and pressure distribution around an airfoil are important aspects of aerodynamics that determine the lift and drag forces experienced by the airfoil. The results obtained indicated that the NACA 0015 airfoil exhibited different velocity patterns around it at zero angle of attack, and at +15 and -15 AOA respectively. Understanding the flow behavior is crucial for the aerodynamics design performance studies. The CFD data were validated using the newly developed wind tunnel for verification. The low-cost price of the subsonic wind tunnel was optimized for overall quality and performance requirements for this project. © 2024 IEEE.

Keywords: Aerodynamics, Angle of attack, CFD simulation, Drag force, Lift force